Path to Pirate King
by Red Joker 042
Summary: ABANDONED, PM if you want to adopt! Whitebeard's interest was directed to a small island in East Blue from Shanks's comments about the new era. He goes to find this brat that will lead the new era but finds 3? Follow the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy as he sails through the Grand Line to become the Pirate King! Strong Luffy! ASL trio! Haki and rokushiki ASL! Bit OOC Luffy.
1. Chapter 1: 2 Yonko to East Blue!

One Piece: Path to Pirate King

Summary:

Whitebeard's interest was directed to a small island in East Blue from Shanks's comments about the new era. He goes to find this brat that will lead the new era but finds 3? Follow the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy as he sails through the Grand Line to become the Pirate King! Strong Luffy! ASL trio! Haki and rokushiki ASL! Rated T but may change

 _ **Author's note: I need more practice in writing actual combat scenes as that is my weakness from what I found out from writing up The Dark Rubber Ninja so I wanted to write another, more fight-centric fanfic to get me more practice and since all attacks in that fanfic are mainly from One Piece I decided to try my hand at writing this. The character descriptions are mostly from one piece wiki and I thank them for making it because I am terrible at describing things like that. This story was a bit inspired from lightning luffy where I only took the part where he was raised by Whitebeard, the Gomu Gomu no mi has to stay. I love how hilarious it is but how overpowered it can be at the same time!**_

 _ **Disclaimer: I don't own One Piece...shishishishi!**_

 _Thoughts: Italics_  
 **Techniques: Bold**  
Emphasis in speech: Underline

Chapter 1: 2 Yonkos to East Blue?!

 _"I wagered a gamble...on the new era"_

Edward Newgate, Whitebeard, was pondering on what Shanks told him about his left arm on the deck late at night. The rest of the crew were asleep and he decided to take up watch. Whitebeard wanted to know more about what happened in East Blue to make Shanks give up Roger's hat. His most prized possession to some no-name kid in the weakest of the blues.

"Old man? What's on your mind-yoi?" Marco, 1st Division Commander of the Whitebeard pirates asked him. From spending a very long time following Newgate, he could tell when he was thinking abut something even through his emotionless stature.

"Marco. I'm stilling thinking about that Red-Hair brat" Whitebeard said, "He promised to Roger that he would only give up that hat to another one who will carry Roger's will and become the Pirate King. Wonder what made this kid stand out so much that Shanks lost an arm for him."

Marco was a bit surprised that Whitebeard was thinking about that little brat Shanks mentioned, "Hmm...he said the kids name was...Luffy. Monkey D. Luffy, I think" he said as he pondered and Whitebeard sat up in surprise.

"Monkey D.!" he said and let out a hearty laugh, "MONKEY D.! Are you serious!"

"Y-yeah? What's so funny-yoi" Marco said in confusion.

"Looks like my dear old friend Garp has his hands full" Whitebeard said with a laugh.

"Garp?" Marco said and pieced it together, "Monkey D. Garp! Luffy must be a grandson or something! And he wants to be the pirate king-yoi!" he said and laughed.

"Jeez a grandson of a hero of the marines is a pirate! That's going to cause a riot!" Marco said, "But still why are you still thinking about that, it's been a week since Shanks visited" and he pieced it together.

"You want to see him?" Marco said and Whitebeard nodded.

"Well what's stopping you, the New World has been quiet for a bit and it's not like anything big happened. Kaido's being kept in line by Shanks for now and Big Mom hasn't done much since she got a giant acquisition of candy. One visit to the East Blue and back, probably takes about 1-2 months tops and since we're near Fishman Island, we can go through that since it's your turf-yoi" Marco reasoned and Whitebeard nodded.

"Still, it's a lot of trouble for just one brat" he grumbled.

"Hey, we've had a rough time the last few months and Shanks is right. We all do need a mini-vacation and if it happens to be in a small town in East Blue then what the heck, why not!" Marco said.

Whitebeard thought about what Marco said for a few minutes, in his head he was going through how this would impact each member of his family.

"What the heck, fine. Marco get the division commanders and get them up here now. Call our friends in the New World and tell them to cover us for about a month or two. We do need a vacation and might as well see that sake Shanks wouldn't shut up about in East Blue" he finally said.

"Heh, whatever you say old man" Marco said nonchalantly, "HEY EVERYONE WAKE UP!" he yelled and everyone on the Moby Dick woke up to a start.

* * *

"Old man, it's like 5 in the morning" Thatch said as he wiped his eyes, "Why the heck are we up so early?"

"Thatch, Marco, Namur, Vista, Jozu. I've decided we're taking a vacation" Whitebeard said and everyone was surprised, "You 5 have been working way to hard these last few months and I'm going to try what that Red-Hair brat did and take a vacation in East Blue"

"I want the rest of the division commanders and the second-in-commands to take over for us and stay sharp, and try to relax a little. Apparently Marco thinks your all too high strung" Whitebeard joked.

"I DID NOT SAY THAT-YOI!" Marco yelled at him while the others glared at him.

"So when do we leave and how do we go. It's not like we can use the Moby Dick to go there, since only you guys are going" Vista asked.

"Yeah, we can use one of the smaller boats to reach there. It would be a bit more incognito" Whitebeard said.

"Old man, your the size of a titan. Incognito, you do not do" Thatch deadpanned and Whitebeard got a little ticked at that.

"Well it's better than taking a whale to East Blue, idiot" he said back and Thatch had to give him that.

"Fine, you win old man" Thatch agreed.

"Pack your bags, we're going on vacation!" Marco said and all of then chorused, "YES!"

* * *

Meanwhile, at Navy HQ.

"WHAT! WHITEBEARD IS IN THE EAST BLUE!" Garp practically yelled at Sengoku and the Gorosei.

"Calm down Garp, he's probably taking a vacation there like Red-Hair Shanks did in East Blue" Sengoku said back at him.

"We can try to use this time to push back Whitebeard's forces" one elder said.

"However, it would be ultimately fruitless as he would return in perhaps a month or two" the second one said.

"We need to make a point to Whitebeard that he is not invincible. The more of his forces we take town the better" the third one reasoned.

"Whitebeard will be pushed back and quieter to mourn the loss of the pirates. If we chase after him to East Blue, it would ultimately be a waste of time considering we would be practically shoving all our forces in the weakest of Blues and other pirates in the new world will take the absence of Whitebeard and Marines to their advantage" the fourth argued.

"Agreed, it would be pointless to chase Whitebeard. All admirals and vice-admirals are being called to the New World to push back the Whitebeard pirates" the final one said.

"HELL NO!" Garp yelled, "MY GRANDSON IS IN EAST BLUE!" _"And Ace. God, please don't let Whitebeard find Ace and his father's identity"_ he thought.

"Garp be reasonable" Sengoku said, "Why would Whitebeard target your grandson? He's not that type of man" but Garp was still yelling.

"Enough!" Sengoku barked, "Get your head in gear and meet me at my office to discuss this".

Garp started to go red in anger but stormed out of the room and after he left Sengoku let out a sigh. Could the Grand Line try to stay quiet for just a few months, everyone needs a vacation and he didn't get one since he took up this job.

* * *

"Ok Garp, tell me the real reason why your going ballistic" Sengoku said while pinching the bridge of his nose.

"LUFFY! Bad enough he was influenced by that brat Shanks. If he meets Whitebeard then how am I supposed to make a marine out of him. He's already obsessed with becoming the Pirate King because of that Red-Haired idiot" Garp yelled and Sengoku felt another headache. The thought of another Garp in the Marines was terrifying, bordering on a nightmare migraine for the poor Fleet Admiral who has to cover the idiots who wreck everything.

"Garp, you can't force someone to their dreams" Sengoku tried to reason but that didn't help.

"Sengoku!" Garp yelled, "Do you want my grandson to become a filthy pirate!"

Sengoku started to lose it, "Moron! I haven't even met your grandson! I'm just saying we need you in the new world more than your grandson needs you! Which one is in danger more, the new world or your grandson. Without Whitebeard's control over his pirates, there could be havoc in the new world and all over the grand line. The balance of the New World has already been offset from Red-Hair's vacation but with Whitebeard it's almost tipping over. We need to help restore order for the innocent lives" he yelled but Garp was picking his nose and Sengoku just let out a groan of exasperation.

"Fine, after this Whitebeard thing blows over you can take a vacation" Sengoku said and Garp went right back to happy mode and had his famous grin.

"YES!" Garp yelled, "A nice long one would be nice, Sengoku. I'm thinking in terms of months" and Sengoku spluttered.

"MONTHS!" he yelled, "HELL NO!" but Garp fell asleep and was snoring with a snot bubble.

"WAKE UP!" Sengoku yelled and Garp woke up with a start, "Oh, I mush have fallen asleep. What were you saying?" and fell back asleep.

 _"I don't get paid enough for this..."_ Sengoku thought bitterly as he watched the antics of his friend.

* * *

Not much happened as they sailed to East Blue. Thatch was right, incognito does not work for Whitebeard and that mostly scared everyone off and kept attracting embarrassing idiot bounty hunters and wet-behind-the-ears pirates. Seriously, they were here to relax but this is just getting ridiculous.

"Old man, this vacation is not playing out as I thought it would in my head" Vista grumbled.

When they finally made it to East Blue it got a lot better. For one thing most wanted posters of New World pirates didn't make it to East Blue so everyone, even Whitebeard to an extent, managed to relax.

"Well, here we are. Dawn island, more specifically Windmill Village" Jozu said as they docked their ship. Marco went as a phoenix to scout the place while the others embarked off the boat.

"Hey, this place looks relaxing" Thatch said as he looked at Windmill village.

Suddenly Marco came in running towards them and held up a newspaper, "HOLY CRUD WE CAME AT THE WORST POSSIBLE TIME-YOI!" he yelled as he flew onto the ship.

"Marco, what the heck happened?" Whitebeard asked.

He just held up a newspaper and showed it to the rest of them, Thatch grabbed it and read the headline out loud:

"Tenryuubito visits the Goa Kingdom" he read and paled.

"OH COME ON! WE CAME HERE FIRST!" Thatch yelled, "Those Tenryuubito can vacation somewhere else"

"When is the visit?" Whitebeard asked but Marco answered, "Today!"

"Let's just keep out of their way. If we don't bother them, they won't bother us. If we do something to them, then we get an admiral hot on our heels" Vista said.

"Agreed" Jozu said.

"Hey, we may as well see the fanfare and the rest of it" Thatch said, "There's probably going to be good food and a party. Namur, you coming?"

"Fishmen aren't exactly welcome in a place like that Thatch" Namur replied.

"Nonsense" he said and went back to the ship and brought back a large covering cloak and covered Namur to the point where he looked like a hunchback.

"This is stupid, Thatch" he deadpanned as Thatch put the hood on and it obscured most of his face.

"Aw c'mon" Thatch said, "You need to get out more. The whole point of this is to relax. Besides Marco, Jozu and Vista won't go and it would suck to go alone to a party" and Namur just sighed and agreed to go. It was easier for everyone and someone has to keep an eye on Thatch.

"Be careful my sons" Whitebeard said as they left. He couldn't shake off a feeling that something bad was going to happen. And that feeling had never been wrong before.

* * *

They reached the port where the Tenryuubito were arriving and saw everyone in a panic. Thatch and Namur went to the edge to get a closer look and almost freaked out at what they saw.

"Hey look there" Thatch said and they both paled at the sight of it.

A kid was sailing a pirate flag right next to the Tenryuubito ship. That sent off alarm bells inside Thatch and Namur's heads, a pirate sailing next to a tenryuubito and a huge fuss would be generated from that as proven when the nobles around them were panicking over what the Tenryuubito would think, Thatch was ticked that these creeps would disregard the kid's life like that.

Tenryuubito's do whatever they want and can get away with it and shooting at a boat with a kid is just another thing on a long list of horrors that they commit. The little blond kid on the small boat had no idea what his actions mean. Their fears were proven when Saint Jalmack took out a large gun and shot at the boat. Sabo wasn't expecting that at all and tried his best to put out the fire on his ship but the Tenryuubito kept firing at the boat.

Namur and Thatch were shocked and had faces of horror when they saw this, Thatch was outraged and was going to charge in when Namur stopped him.

"Namur, how can you just let this go" Thatch whispered harshly at him.

"I will go in and rescue the kid, charging in like that and we will get Admirals after us. Tenryuubitos are sick monsters but attacking them is equal to an act of war" Namur said and moved through the crowd and made it to a secluded beach and swam quickly to fetch the poor kid. He swam underwater and wasn't seen with the thick smoke obscuring the spot where the kid fell in. Everyone's attention was drawn to the Tenryuubito mounting a slave's back and it was making Thatch sick. He had to move fast.

Luckily he made it quick enough and went back to the beach and the kid was still alive, miraculously. His face was scarred but he would live. Thatch ran through the crowd and made it to the beach.

"Oh god, is he..." Thatch asked but Namur shook his head.

"Kid's alive, the shots hit the boat and he must have fallen in the water but the explosions hit his face and those scars are permanent. If he was left underwater any longer his state would be a lot more severe" Namur explained.

"Jeez, we need to get the kid back to the ship. There's medical equipment there" Thatch said and Namur nodded.

They scurried off quickly and unnoticed by the crowd and went back to the ship docked in Windmill village.

* * *

"Guys, you're back so soon..." Marco started but got a god look at the kid they were carrying.

"HOLY HECK! WHAT ON EARTH JUST HAPPENED THERE-YOI!" he yelled and drew everyone's attention.

"Thatch, Namur what happened to that kid?" Vista said as he came by.

"Doesn't matter right now. Old man we need to use the medical equipment to save this kid!" Thatch yelled and Whitebeard nodded. They took Sabo's unconscious body to the medical room and Thatch was the official doctor on the ship with Marco and the both of them got to work on trying to save this kid.

"Namur, what happened?" Jozu said as Namur came out and went back to Whitebeard, Jozu and Vista.

"We went to the festival and saw this kid sailing a boat right next to the Tenryuubito's ship. Crazy kid sailed with a black flag and crossbones past the ship and it was shot down with an oversized gun. I managed to find a place to jump in and save the kid but he still got hit by the exploding shells" Namur said and everyone's expressions darkened.

"Old man, I can't believe the Tenryuubito! Seriously, they just get crazier and crazier and no one tried to save the kid other than you two" Vista growled.

"No, they were far more concerned about their reputation and crap like that" he spat out angrily, "Guys, I know we're ticked but we can't fight these creeps. If we do that's paramount to a declaration of war and they send every marine available to try to kill us in East Blue" Namur said and they reluctantly nodded.

"That doesn't exactly make me not want to smash their heads in" Jozu said angrily.

"Let's focus on saving this brat first my sons and then worry about the Tenryuubito" Whitebeard finally said and they all nodded.

* * *

10 hours later

 _"Ace, Luffy. The fire, I need to save them!"_ Sabo thought as he came to.

"His pulse is picking up" Thatch said and Marco went over to get everyone else.

"A...ce...Lu..ffy" Sabo croaked.

"Hey kid, don't talk. You need to conserve your energy" Thatch said as he was watching Sabo.

"Ace...Luffy" he managed to whisper out and Thatch put his head near him.

"OY! Seriously you need to rest! Stay down!" Thatch said.

"Ace! Luffy!" Sabo said and tried to get up that got Thatch's attention.

"Kid, calm down. I don't know who those two are but you need to worry about yourself first" Thatch said and he put his hand on Sabo's wriggling bodyand held him down.

"I...need to s...ave them!" he said with difficulty.

"Look we'll go and try to find these guys Ace and Luffy but you need to stay and rest. Your body is in serious condition" Thatch said but Sabo kept squirming out of his grip.

"Fire...Ace, Luffy...in danger!" Sabo said.

"Kid I don't know what fire your talking about but as far as I know there's no fire and I promise we'll try to get Ace and Luffy so you just rest now" Thatch said and Sabo felt his strength leave him.

"Thank...you" he whispered and went back to sleep. Everyone arrived but he had already fallen asleep before they could question him.

* * *

"So how's the brat" Whitebeard asked.

"He just woke up but I managed to get him to sleep and rest. That stubborn brat wouldn't stay in one place. He kept saying Ace and Luffy and something about saving them and a fire that they were in danger from" Thatch summarised.

"We may know about that" Vista said and Jozu continued.

"Goa Kingdom is known as the cleanest place in the world but for a reason. They dump all the trash in a place called Grey Terminal and the poorer people and thugs live there. Last night before the fire the place was burnt down with the people in there. Those monsters wanted the place to look sparking clean for the Tenryuubito visit" he spat out angrily.

"Man. The more I hear about this place, the more I think we should sink it to the bottom of the ocean. Burning hundreds of people alive and they didn't even look sad about it-yoi" Marco said angrily.

"Ace and Luffy? How are we going to find these kids" Namur said thinking about what the Blond kid said.

"Wait Luffy, isn't that the kid the red-hair brat talked about" Whitebeard said, "Marco you go and try to find these brats and get them to the ship. We have their friend and he's alive so we should at least return him."

Marco nodded and turned into a phoenix and flew around the village to find these kids.

"Y'know, when we had vacation in our heads. This was definitely not on my plan list" Vista said as he sat down.

"Well let's just sort this whole thing out and go to another island. This one left a bad taste in my mouth" Jozu said as he followed suit.

* * *

"Excuse me, does anyone know of someone called Ace or Luffy-yoi" Marco asked as he walked around Windmill village. He asked many people and they all recognised Luffy but never heard of Ace, he asked for Luffy since he could get one out of two and they told him to look in Party's Bar.

He went inside to see an empty bar and asked the green-haired and kind-looking barmaid, Makino, "Excuse me but do you know where I can find someone named Luffy and Ace-yoi" he asked politely and Makino was caught off guard.

"How do you know about Ace?" she asked in fear. Ace's presence was supposed to be a secret and Makino and Woop Slap made sure to never let anyone know he was here.

That was not the reaction Marco was expecting and he realised he got of the wrong foot, "Woah, no need to be alarmed. I'm not going to hurt them. We found a little blond kid who was almost killed by Tenryuubito. We managed to get him to a medical room in time and save him but he kept saying Ace and Luffy over and over again. I just wanted to take these guys to the blond kid-yoi."

Makino was surprised and so glad. She heard what happened to Sabo and these men saved his life. But who were these people, "I'm sorry, my name is Makino and what is your name, sir?"

Marco was a bit taken back by the manners but managed to get himself together, "My name's Marco-yoi" he said and Makino had a thoughtful face.

"Marco, that name sounds familiar..." Makino said. Suddenly the doors burst open and Woop Slap came into the bar, "Makino, its terrible. Someone has been asking about Ace we need to..." he started and got a look at Marco.

"You! Why are you looking for Ace?" he said but Marco cut him off.

"Calm down old man, we saved a little blond guy from getting blown to bits by Tenryuubito and he kept saying Ace and Luffy. I thought they might know him so I went to fetch them to our ship-yoi" he said but berated himself for that last slip up.

"Ship? So what is your occupation?" Woop Slap said suspiciously and Marco was forced to sigh and was trying to think of a way to tell them and not have them freak out.

"I remember you, your Marco from the Whitebeard pirates. Shanks talked about you" she said as she managed to remember and Marco getting ready to try and get them to calm down.

"Look we're here on vacation. Shanks told us about this place and we're not looking for trouble or anything..." he started.

"If Shanks thinks your a good person then that is enough for me" Makino said and Woop Slap nodded, reluctantly.

"Umm...Aren't you going to freak out or something. I am a pirate-yoi" he said in confusion.

"So was Shanks and he saved Luffy's life a while back. Not all pirates are bad, I know that much" Makino said and Marco was almost gaping.

 _"Weirdest town ever"_ he thought.

"Well, that's great. I guess" he said offhandedly, _"They're quite trusting of pirates because of Shank's effect on people, even though he's an idiot"_ he thought.

Makino locked up the bar and put up a closed sign and went to Mount Corvo to see Ace and Luffy.

* * *

As they were walking along the forest Makino and Woop Slap asked what happened to Sabo and Marco answered the best he could form what Thatch told him.

"So that's what Sabo did" Makino said sadly.

"Yeah that Sabo kid sailed next to a Tenryuubito's ship with a black flag and crossbones, in other words a pirate flag. Even though he was a kid they were merciless. It took a lot of restraint to not burn down that stupid Goa Kingdom and the Tenryuubito's with them. If the old man would have his way then this island would be at the bottom of the ocean but there's only 6 of us on vacation and we would get the entire navy on our heels" Marco said.

"Those mini hell-raisers. They have no self-restraint but sailing next to a Tenryuubito's ship. Everyone knows their egos are the size of the moon and trying to mess with them is an instant death sentence" Woop Slap said with a sigh.

"So who's Ace? Luffy we know because Shanks wouldn't shut up about him-yoi" Marco asked and the other two paled and Marco noticed that.

"Woah, woah you don't have to tell me if you don't want to or something. I just want to find them and take them to Sabo" Marco said.

"That's alright but we can't, we promised we wouldn't" Makino said lightly and Marco nodded.

* * *

They got to Mount Corvo and reached a wooden house in the middle of the woods.

 _"Well I didn't expect Garp to leave his grandkid in a palace but this looks like a hideout"_ he thought in confusion.

"Dadan, we need to talk to Luffy and Ace" Makino said as she knocked on the door.

When she did a burly woman that looked like a gorilla with a bottle of sake came out of the door.

"Makino?" she said, "What are you doing here? And who's the pineapple?" she said when she saw Marco. Marco had a tick mark but managed to cover it, it's not his fault his hair and face is like that.

"He says he saved Sabo and he's looking for Ace and Luffy to take them to him" Woop Slap said and Dadan looked shocked.

Dogra, who was watching from behind spoke up "That's impossible I saw his ship go down when the Tenryuubito's shot it! Sabo's dead!" he yelled. Marco saw him and he looked like a short midget with a annoyed look on his face that was stuck permanently, he was also wearing a pink apron with polka dots and Marco was wondering if Garp reached a whole new level of insane if he left his grandkid with weirdos like this.

Marco just sighed, "Yeah I know, a few friends of mine saw that and saved him and took him to my ship and we managed to save the kid's life. He kept saying Ace and Luffy and the fire in Grey Terminal and so I'm trying to get him his friends".

"Where are Ace and Luffy?" Magra asked and Marco saw this guy looked even weirder. He looked like a chicken, literally a chicken with a wattle on his chin and comb on his bald head and a moustache with sideburns and big eyelashes.

"Don't know Ace ran off after getting a letter and Luffy's missing" Dadan said.

Marco just sighed, "Forget it, I'll find them on my own-yoi" he said and walked out and covered himself in flames, much to the shock of everyone present and became a phoenix and soared up into the air to look for them.

"I think there's something wrong with the sake" Dadan said as she saw Marco transform.

* * *

He soared high into the air and circled the place for a while, the sun was beginning to set and finally he managed to see them. Two kids standing by a cliff watching the sunset. One kid was on the ground with a straw hat crying and the other was standing tall and trying to not cry.

 _"That's Shanks's hat, so this is Luffy and the other's probably Ace"_ he thought, _"Finally"_ he as going to land and talk to them but the kid standing up was talking so he decided to wait for him to finish and then tell them.

Ace bonked Luffy on the head and said, "How long are you going to keep crying like that?" he asked. _"Real nice kid"_ Marco thought sarcastically with a raised eyebrow.

"How long are you going to carry on like that?" Ace asked Luffy who's cries became muffled.

Ace continued, "All the treasure we hid in the forest is gone. Sabo didn't use it in the end...so...I think I'm...ok with that. No use collecting treasure if we can't protect it" Ace said.

Then Luffy spoke up, "Ace...I...I want to...I want to GET STRONGER!" he yelled that last part out.

"...STRONGER...AND STRONGER! AND STRONGER AND STRONGER, AND STRONGER, AND STRONGER...! AND STRONGER, AND STRONGER, AND STRONGER, AND STRONGER...AND STRONGER, AND STRONGER! AND THEN EVEN STRONGER STILL!" he yelled and Marco was taken back by the conviction in his voice.

"Then I'll be able...to protect anything! I won't have to lose anyone any more...!" he said, "You've got to promise me...! Don't you...ever die Ace...!" he said between choked sobs.

"The heck is that supposed to mean! Worry about yourself before me, idiot! Your way weaker than me!" he said and hit Luffy on the head again and Marco thought he didn't know how to express positive emotions or just liked hitting things, "Listen up Luffy, and remember this! I'm not going to die!" he said with strength in his voice and Marco could tell he didn't want to leave that Luffy kid.

"...Uh-huh..." Luffy said as he got up but still sobbing.

"Sabo asked me to look after you, too. So I'm not gonna die, no matter what! That's a promise!" he said, "Like heck I could die and leave my weak little brother all on his own!"

"...Uh-huh..." Luffy nodded again but still crying.

"I'm not all that smart or anything, so I can't figure out what was really responsible for Sabo's death" he said, "But whatever it was, it was something completely against freedom! Sabo died without ever truly becoming free!" he said.

"But we shared that drink with Sabo, and we're still alive! So remember this, Luffy." he continued, "No matter what, the two of us...have to live our lives with no regrets!" he said and Luffy said, "Yeah!"

"We're going to set out to sea someday...! Live our lives the way we want to with more freedom than anyone in this world!" he said, "I'm sure we'll end up making a lot of enemies on the way...even Gramps will be our enemy! We'll be risking our lives but we're going to set sail and become Pirates!"

Luffy nodded to that and added his own comments, "I will become the Pirate King, the man with the most freedom on the seas!" he yelled out and dried his tears. Ace just nodded at that and smiled.

* * *

Marco felt really bad, he intruded on a private and really touching family scene. But with their ideals he knew these kids would go far, really far. Right better get this over with.

"Ahem" he said and came out of the trees and drew Luffy and Ace's attention.

"Who the hell are you!" Ace said and got in front of Luffy.

"Woah, calm down. I'm not here for a fight-yoi!" Marco said and put his hands up.

"Then why are you here?" Ace said suspiciously.

"Me and my crew were passing by and we found a little blond kid and managed to save him. He's in the medic bay on our ship" Marco said and the two of them looked shocked.

"SABO!" Luffy yelled and broke into tears, "HE'S ALIVE! WHERE IS HE!" he said and latched onto Marco.

"Hey, kid. Get off me-yoi!" Marco said and tried to prise off Luffy.

"Luffy get of him! We don't even know this guy!" Ace yelled and dragged Luffy off of him and held his head back behind him.

"Thanks" Marco said but Ace was still ready for a fight.

"How do we know your telling the truth? And if you do have him, give him back now!" Ace yelled and Marco just sighed, what is it with kids their either super paranoid or weird like these two.

"Kid, why would I lie to you. I don't even know you two. He just came to on the ship and he kept saying Luffy and Ace and the Terminal Fire and he ran out of energy and went back to sleep-yoi" Marco explained.

"ACE, LET'S GO!" Luffy said but Ace didn't let up.

"We can't trust strangers so easily. We trusted Bluejam and look what that got us, if we learnt anything from that it's that we can't just trust random strangers so easily" Ace snapped back at him.

"It will be OK, Pineapple-ossan looks like a nice guy" Luffy said, "Bluejam didn't look like a nice guy but he does".

Ace tried to think about it, Luffy always was a good judge of character, despite being an idiot. He didn't trust Bluejam at the start and it was Ace who got them into this mess but Luffy trusts him so that's something. Plus he may or may not have Sabo and they can't pass that up.

"Well who are you?" Ace said.

"My name is Marco" he said.

"Ace, let's go" Luffy said again and pushed against Ace's grip on him.

Ace was stuck in a conflicting battle in his head but as he was thinking Luffy had ran off already and latched onto Marco again. "LUFFY!" he yelled with shark teeth.

Marco was really getting annoyed with this and tried to prise him off again, "Kid, get off me! Seriously, what is wrong with you-yoi!" he said and he and Ace managed to get Luffy off of him a second time. Ace knocked him on the head and he stayed put after that, much to the gratefulness of Marco. After about a minute...

"Ok" Ace said quietly and finally and both Marco and Luffy looked at him in surprise, "But we're taking our pipes with us, I'm not walking into another trap that easily"

"Pipes?" he asked, "Whatever, just grab them" he said and Marco went back to that hideout with Ace and Luffy trailing a safe distance behind him.

* * *

They finally got back to the hideout and Marco was getting a little tired of being treated like the world's most despicable villain. _"They must have had a rough time to not trust others so easily, well at least Ace did"_ he thought as Ace and Luffy went into the hideout and grabbed foot long pipes that they used as staffs.

"Makino, old mayor ossan. Why are you here?" Luffy asked as he saw them.

"Marco-san was asking for the two of you in Windmill village and we took him here" Makino explained.

"How can you trust him so easily, he's a stranger who showed up out of nowhere" Ace asked.

"Luffy don't you remember Shanks. He once talked about a person named Marco who was a strong fighter" Makino said and Luffy remembered.

"Pineapple-ossan! You know Shanks!" he said and Marco groaned, seriously pineapple. Get original people!

"Again, my name is Marco not Pineapple-ossan and I fought him a few times-yoi" he said and Luffy had stars in his eyes.

"THAT'S SO COOL! WHEN I BECOME A PIRATE JOIN MY NAKAMA!" he said and Marco looked at him like he was crazy.

"Kid, I'm part of a pirate crew already and I don't plan on leaving anytime soon-yoi" Marco said and Luffy looked a little dejected.

"Fine, I don't care" he said with a pout and looked away.

 _"Not to good at hiding his emotions"_ Marco though with a sweat drop.

"Wait your a pirate!" Ace yelled and pulled Luffy back and Marco groaned, _"Not this again"_ he thought.

"Yes, I'm a pirate and we here on vacation since Shanks told us about this place-yoi" he said.

"If Shanks likes you then your ok" Luffy said and Ace still bonked him on the head, "HE'S A PIRATE!" he snapped.

"But we're pirates too" Luffy said in confusion.

"That doesn't mean we can just trust him though" Ace said back.

"Look, what's it going to take to get you to the ship and deliver the blond kid back to you. Seriously-yoi" Marco said with a sigh.

"Ace, let's go already" Luffy said and Ace sighed and said, "Fine but you stay at least 4 metres from us" Ace said and Marco nodded.

They eventually managed to get to the ship, while Luffy kept asking the stupidest of questions like "Do you poop?" and other questions about his adventures and Marco really couldn't take this anymore, it was seriously annoying. This was all a sick joke by that drunkard Shanks. When they next meet him, he is so going to fry that drunkard.

* * *

Finally they reached the ship and saw the mark of Whitebeard on the ship.

 _"W-whitebeard!"_ Ace thought and paled, this was his father's biggest rival. This is really bad, he was going to stop Luffy but he rushed on board before Ace could stop him.

 _"I'm going to rip that rubber morons skull open!"_ he thought angrily as Luffy ran around the ship yelling, "SABO!"

"LUFFY SHUT UP! WE CAN'T FOOL AROUND!" Ace yelled.

"ACE! LUFFY!" a voice came from inside the ship and both of them heard it.

"SABO!" they yelled in unison and burst through the door and ended up inside the medical room with Jozu, Vista, Namur, Thatch and Whitebeard. Marco rushed in and said, "I take my eyes of for one minute and you two kids are running around all over the..." he started but the two rushed to the bed and saw Sabo.

"SABO!" Luffy yelled and hugged him and cried his eyes out, "YOU'RE ALIVE!"

"Luf...fy...can't...breathe" Sabo managed to choke out.

"Luffy we just got him back. Don't break him!" Ace yelled and bonked Luffy and they managed to get Luffy off of him.

"Gurararara!" Whitebeard laughed as he watched them pry off Luffy.

"Who's the old walrus-ossan?" Luffy said and everyone was surprised at the way he called Whitebeard.

Sabo started to panic a bit, he knew who Whitebeard was and could obliterate them, "Luffy that's the man who saved me, Whitebeard! He's the strongest man on the sea, don't insult him" Sabo yelled.

"Thanks for saving Sabo but what are you talking about he's an old walrus" Luffy said.

"Walrus have white tusks going down, not up!" Sabo said back at him.

"EHH...So he's an upside-down old walrus-ossan!" Luffy said with stars in his eyes. Everyone was staring at Luffy bug-eyed, like he had a death wish but then again he is a D.

"That's alright we happened to come across him and saving him was a miracle" Whitebeard said.

"Luffy seriously don't call him a Walrus. He's the strongest man on the sea, the man closest to finding One Piece" Sabo said and Ace tried to shut his mouth but it was too late, the words were spoken.

"Walrus-ossan! I'm going to be the Pirate King, if you want to get One Piece then I'm going to kick your butt!" Luffy said.

Whitebeard literally was speechless and after a few seconds he laughed really hard, "GURARARARARA!" he laughed, "Your about 100 years to young to fight me brat!" he said.

"Oh yeah, I'll show you!" Luffy yelled and shot his fist back, " **Gomu gomu no Pistol** " he yelled and his fist shot forward at Whitebeard and he moved his head slightly to dodge. The fist came right back at Luffy and hit him right on the face and he fell over.

The others were struggling to stay up and not laugh while Marco just shook his head in exasperation.

"It's not over yet!" Luffy said but Whitebeard let out the smallest but of Conqueror's Haki to stop Luffy. Luffy felt an invisible force come over him and stop him from moving. Sabo and Ace also felt it and the pressure was freezing them in place with fear.

"I-its n-n-not OVER YET!" Luffy yelled and Ace, Sabo and Luffy all sent out a wave of Conqueror's Haki each and took everyone by surprise. By combining them they managed to push back the fraction of Whitebeard's Haki back.

 _"Conqueror's Haki, but they're just kids!"_ Whitebeard thought in surprise, everyone else was stunned by what the kids just did and their mouths were agape.

" **Gomu gomu no pistol** " Luffy yelled again and shot his fist forwards and Whitebeard dodged and flicked Luffy's head gently but put a bit of haki in it to actually hit him.

"IT HURTS!" Luffy yelled as he clutched his head.

"What are you talking about. Your made of rubber, you can't get hurt with weak physical attacks!" Ace said.

"It felt like the same thing Gramps does when he hits me with his "Fist of Love"" Luffy said and everyone was taken by surprise.

 _"Haki-infused punches on a 7 year old! Have you lost it Garp!"_ Whitebeard thought angrily, _"Jeez, that kid is annoying but really Haki on a 7 year old?"_ Marco also thought.

"What, so anyone can do that? What is it?" Sabo said and looked at Whitebeard.

 _"I feel like a responsible adult should not be telling kids about haki. Well they're not my kids yet!"_ Whitebeard thought and answered, "It's called Haki" and the three looked up.

"Many warriors in the grand line and those trying to find one piece know about Haki. It's a mysterious power that is found in every living being in the world but most don't notice it or fail to awaken it. What I used was Armament haki and that can bypass Devil Fruit defences, so my flick was hitting a normal human and not a rubber one" Whitebeard explained.

Luffy had stars in his eyes and Ace and Sabo were thinking about what he said, "Walrus-ossan, that is so COOL! How do you do that!" Luffy said.

"It takes a lot of training to use Haki, there's no trick to it" he said.

"I'm going to be a master of this Haki stuff and when I am, I'm going to kick your butt and become the Pirate King" Luffy said and Whitebeard laughed and decided to ask a question.

"Kid, what does being the Pirate King mean to you?" he asked out of curiosity.

"The man with the most freedom to sail the sea is the Pirate King. I want to go on awesome adventures with my brothers and nakama!" Luffy said and Whitebeard laughed, "Gurararara, that's an interesting thought. The man with the most freedom" he said and Luffy nodded with resolution.

"What's it to you old geezer?" Ace said.

"Nothing, just curious" Whitebeard said, "Anyway who are you kids?" and before Ace could stop Luffy he introduced himself.

"My name is Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will become the Pirate King!" he declared and Whitebeard could tell he earned the D in his name to stand up to him with no fear.

"My name is Sabo, no last name I'm proud of. I want to be free and sail the seas" Sabo said as he sat up and looked at Ace, "Oy Ace speak up. He saved my life, could you be a bit nicer?" he said.

"Hmph, I'm Portgas D. Ace. I want to become a big-shot pirate, and the why is none of your business" he said.

"I see, my name is Edward Newgate. I always wanted a family" he said and the three looked at him.

"COOL! So do you have a big family?" Luffy said and the Whitebeards laughed, "You could say that" Whitebeard said with a smile as he thought of his sons and daughters, "The guys over there are Marco, Jozu, Thatch, Namur and Vista are my sons" he said and pointed to each of them.

"Wow and people used to laugh at us for our dream" Marco said in surprise.

"They're dumb then. The bond between my brothers has always been my most priceless treasure" Sabo said to Marco and everyone started at him.

"Shishishi, it's my favourite treasure too and my Straw Hat" Luffy said.

"Yeah, it's my best treasure as well. No gold or silver compares to it" Ace said.

"I have a question" Thatch said, "How did you eat a devil fruit? They're really rare outside the Grand Line" he asked to Luffy.

"Well Shanks had it with him and I ate it by accident when I was angry with him. But the Gomu gomu no mi is the best anyway, so I didn't care" Luffy said and Ace groaned.

"Luffy, just accept it. Rubber is useless in battle. You can't even throw a straight punch" he said and Luffy started a fight with Ace while Sabo tried to calm down the tension.

"Gurararara, that's not quite true Ace" Whitebeard said and everyone looked at him, "When anyone eats a devil fruit, it very rarely makes someone weaker. Devil fruits give you an ability but its the user who has to expand on it and learn to use it to its fullest extent" and Luffy smiled at that.

"Whitebeard-san, you sound like you speak from experience. Did you eat a Devil Fruit?" Sabo asked.

"Yeah I did. I ate the Gura Gura no mi. I can create earthquakes" Whitebeard said.

"THAT'S SO COOL!" Luffy said with stars in his eyes and Ace paled, _"Great, how do we escape a guy who makes EARTHQUAKES!"_

"Well I didn't say all devil fruits are useless. Just yours" Ace said back at Luffy who again started another fight.

"So your Earthquakes make you freeze up people? I don't understand how that's possible" Sabo asked.

"Well that's a form of Haki called Conqueror's Haki where you can use it to overpower the wills of others. It's a rare form of haki found in only 1 in one million people" Whitebeard said, "Although we might need to change those statistics" he said that last part out loud unintentionally.

"What do you mean?" Ace said and stopped hitting Luffy who looked up as well, with Sabo. Whitebeard thought it would be best to come clean, since Ace was very paranoid of others, "You three pushed back my Conqueror's Haki with your own. All three of you can use Conqueror's Haki" he said.

"Wait, I remember this!" Luffy said and everyone looked at him, "Shanks used it on the Sea King that tried to eat me" he said.

"Yeah, that red-hair brat can use Conqueror's Haki as well" Whitebeard said.

"How come we use it?" Sabo asked.

"Who knows, Haki is a mystery with many questions that very few have been able to answer any" he said.

"Can you teach us?" Luffy asked and Ace bonked him on the head, "We're here for Sabo, not teachers for mystery powers" he said.

"But Ace, I want to get stronger! Strong enough to protect everyone I care about! If the walrus-ossan can teach us, isn't that a good thing? He looks like a nice old walrus" Luffy said back at him.

"Ace, Luffy has always been able to judge others accurately. Besides, I don't see the harm in asking him" Sabo said, "And stop calling him a walrus!"

"Well if you want to learn, you have to become my sons" Whitebeard said and that shocked the heck out of everyone in the room.

"Old man, aren't they a bit too young to join pirates. One of them is seven!" Marco reasoned.

"No" Luffy said and everyone looked at him, "The Pirate King can't have a captain so I won't join" he said.

"Gurararara!" Whitebeard said, "You don't have to join my crew to be my son!" he said.

"OK!" Luffy said and did a 180° and flashed a grin and a thumbs-up like Garp.

"LUFFY!" Ace and Sabo yelled in unison and Ace bonked him on the head, "Group huddle. Can you guys leave?" he called and he and Sabo huddled together and Ace had to drag Luffy and the Whitebeards left the room.

* * *

"Ace, why are you so hostile against these guys?" Sabo asked in a whisper.

"They're the frickin' Whitebeard Pirates, the strongest pirate crew in the world" he said back.

"THAT'S SO COOL!" Luffy said, "But my future crew is going to kick his crew's butts!" he said resolutely.

"QUIET!" they both yelled.

"Whitebeard was the only man who could fight Gold Roger and they fought a load of times! If he finds out he's my dad, he would try to kill me" Ace whispered.

"Oh yeah, I can see why you would think that" Sabo whispered back in understanding.

"Nah Walrus-ossan wouldn't care who your dad is Ace. He's a nice old walrus" Luffy said a bit loudly and Ace and Sabo started to panic.

"KEEP IT DOWN IDIOT!" they both yelled and bonked him.

"So how do we escape?" Ace said.

"I told you they were nice guys and wouldn't care" Luffy said.

"I actually agree with Luffy, they do seem like the type who wouldn't care Ace. And besides if he holds a grudge, it would be with your father, not you. Just have a bit of trust in them and I know they will accept you just like we did" Sabo reasoned while Ace still looked worried.

"Ok fine we vote" Sabo said and Sabo and Luffy voted to stay with them and Ace voted leave. He paled and immediately said it was unfair but Sabo and Luffy wouldn't have any of that and stopped him.

"I'm still getting ready to run when this blows up in our face" Ace said and opened a window large enough for him to fit.

* * *

All of the commanders were versed in Observation Haki and heard it.

"Holy crud, Gold Roger had a son?!" Thatch said.

"It's not too surprising. His presence was a lot like Roger's and Portgas was his wife's surname probably" Whitebeard said.

"So that's why he was a super paranoid kid" Marco said.

"Well let's wait for them to come out" Namur said.

After 15 minutes the three of them opened the door and Whitebeard noticed the window was open fully.

"Ok we're joining but we have something we need to tell you" Sabo said and nudged at Ace.

"If it's that Ace is the son of Roger, then I already know" Whitebeard said and the three looked shocked. Whitebeard grew a few tick marks and the three got ready to run.

"HOW COULD YOU THINK THAT I WOULD CARE ABOUT THAT!" he yelled, "I DON'T CARE WHO YOUR FATHER IS ACE. I ACTUALLY RESPECTED YOUR FATHER A LOT! HE WAS ONE OF THE GREATEST MEN I HAVE EVER KNOWN! IF YOU WERE MY SON AND WENT TO ROGER, HE WOULD NEVER HOLD IT AGAINST YOU SO I WON'T EITHER" and the three were shocked.

"See I told you he was a nice old walrus" Luffy said after 10 seconds with a grin.

"If you doubt me for a second while sailing with me then I will give you a ship and even help you get back to this village. That I swear on my family" he said seriously and everyone was shocked. His crewmates were surprised, he only ever made a promise like that for the most serious of times.

"Well I guess that's that!" Sabo said and looked at Ace who was holding back his emotions, he finally said, "Thank you".

Whitebeard smiled at that, these kids were going to be big. He could just feel it.

"Walrus-ossan, when do we set sail? We better go before Gramps shows up and beats us up!" Luffy said and Whitebeard started to get mad, "BEAT YOU UP! WHAT IS THAT MORON GARP DOING!"

They were clutching their ears from the volume but Ace replied, "That old geezer keeps trying to get us to be Marines but no way am I going to be one. I...no we want to be pirates!"

"Oh yeah" Whitebeard said, "I can see why Garp would flip if you became pirates and he was always a hot headed moron at times".

"Walrus-ossan, do you know Gramps?" Luffy asked.

Whitebeard laughed, "Luffy, first it's dad but you can call me walrus if you want, besides everyone calls me old man. Yes I know Garp, I fought him several times. He's incredibly strong and our battles can level mountains. And we came here on vacation because that Red-Hair brat told me about this place and I wanted to come here to see what it was like but if we run into Garp that's trouble to the people in this place so we should leave as soon as possible" he said.

"I guess that's true. Windmill village and a lot of people could get hurt if you tow started a fight" Sabo said.

"Course if you want to take the fight into Goa then no one will shed a tear over that" Ace said.

"Ehh...but Sabo's dad is a jerk but he's still there" Luffy said but Sabo bonked him on the head.

"Don't tell everyone that" he yelled.

"Wait your dad is there, then your a noble's son?" Vista said.

"NO!" Sabo yelled and let out all the anger he had since he was taken back by his father, "I hate nobles! They just let hundreds of people die and didn't even care one bit about it. They act like they can do whatever they want because they can and treat others like dogs. They are filthier than the trash heap and rotten to the inside. I hate the blood in my veins for that! Both of my parents can go to hell! They don't care one bit about me, they only see me as a tool for power. They only want to me study and be an heir to protect their fortune and status. Then marry some rich noble and increase their status and line their pockets with money. They are the total opposite of freedom and I HATE THAT!" Sabo ranted and the Whitebeards, Ace and Luffy were shocked. After a silence, Whitebeard spoke up.

"Sabo" Whitebeard said, "I would never care if you were the son of a noble or even a Tenryuubito. You are my son and that other man who called himself your father can never claim that title if he doesn't love you or care for you"

"You'll be my d-dad" Sabo said in shock.

"If you want" Whitebeard said, "I'm the father for every one of my 1600 crew mates and more, you three are always welcome in my family"

Sabo almost broke down into tears but tried to hold it in. Ace was shocked by what Whitebeard said, he really was a nice old man like Luffy said. Luffy was grinning really happily.

"That's awesome, we have 1600 new brothers!" Luffy said and his stomach rumbled, "I just remembered, I'm hungry!" he said and collapsed on the floor.

"WOAH!" Thatch yelled, "Did you starve or something?" he said as he picked up Luffy.

"Nope, he ate only 3 hours ago" Ace deadpanned and everyone started to sweat drop at Luffy, "He is really hungry. He eats meals for at least 10 people, 5 times a day" Sabo said with a laugh.

"Come on, there's no way that's possible" Thatch said.

"Wanna bet?" Ace said with a grin

* * *

After about 30 minutes of straight up stuffing your face, Thatch lost all his money because of Luffy. It was physically impossible to eat THAT MUCH! But he did it! Everyone was slightly freaked out at Luffy's eating habits as Luffy turned into a beach ball but Luffy just got up and shoved all that fat around him body and went right back to normal. When he asked what's for dessert, Thatch almost cried. For every plate of meat Luffy ate over 50 meant he loses 5,000 beli. And he lost at least 200,000 Beli. He didn't exactly bring much money when he came here so watching this made him cry as he slowly became broke. Marco and Whitebeard just accepted that Ds weren't normal in any way and thinking about it would just end up going nowhere. he rest of the crew were more concerned that they lost 50% of their food in one meal from feeding three kids!

"Ok, now that the horrifying display of eating is over, get ready to set sail and say your goodbyes" Whitebeard said.

"Ok, we just need to go to Mount Corvo and and Party's bar and we're done!" Luffy said.

"Marco, fly those kids there" Whitebeard said and as soon as he said that it was all over.

"THAT'S AWESOME! PINEAPPLE-OSSAN YOU CAN FLY!" Luffy said with even bigger stars in his eyes and latched himself on Marco. This time it took Marco, Sabo, Ace and Jozu to get him off, the whole time Marco could barely breathe.

"I'm alive..." he muttered to himself, _"I'm going to turn that Red-Hair into ash when I see that jerk. "Luffy is a nice kid with good values" he said. Nothing about being a brat with the IQ of a goldfish"_

"Luffy don't choke Marco-san, we need him conscious for him to fly" Sabo said and Luffy said Ok to which Marco felt infinitely relieved.

"Ok, let's go" Marco said and turned into a phoenix.

"Woah are you a devil fruit eater too" Sabo said.

"Yes, I ate a mythical zoan that allows me to turn into a phoenix" he said.

"AWESOME! You're a fried chicken!" Luffy said with his mouth watering.

"I'M NOT A FRIED CHICKEN! I'M A LEGENDARY BIRD THAT CONTROLS FIRE!" he yelled at Luffy, "THAT MEANS I'M NOT FOOD-YOI!"

"Aww..." Luffy said looking disappointed.

"Sabo, Ace get on my back. Luffy, I'll carry you with my feet-yoi" he said but he had talons so that wasn't exactly a great invitation.

Sabo and Ace got on his back, while Luffy had a very uncomfortable ride and Marco made sure to "accidentally" bump into a few trees with his feet as he flew, while Luffy was screaming his head off Marco, Sabo and Ace talked about life here and Garp's visits. He had to admit it was hard to draw a line between Garp's training and straight-up torture.

* * *

"Your WHAT!" Makino, Woop Slap, Dadan and the mountain bandits yelled.

"We're going to be pirates with Whitebeard!" Luffy yelled, while jumping up and down.

"Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us. Garp is going to kill us" Dadan and the mountain bandits repeated over and over again as they sat down.

"Pirates! But your only 7!" Makino said.

"We're 10!" Ace and Sabo yelled.

"That's far too young" she still insisted and Marco decided to step in.

"Ma'am" he said, "The three of them have awakened a unique power found in 1 in a million people called Conqueror's Haki. As crazy as that sounds, it is true and they have a power that can render others unconscious with ease. We need to help train them or it could go wild and out of control. You three, go pack your stuff-yoi" Marco stated and Ace and Sabo ran off.

"I don't see why Garp can't do that" Woop Slap said.

"Right" Marco said, "Our Old man may be a pirate but even he wouldn't beat the heck out of 3 children. Garp practically beats them black and blue all over the place from what we've heard from these three. Plus he can only be here for at most 1 month a year, that's not enough and there's no way in heck these three are becoming Marines and can be trained by him so that's out-yoi"

"Yeah! And I want to be a pirate with the walrus-ossan and pineapple fried chicken-ossan!" Luffy said while jumping up and down.

"Go pack your stuff!" Marco yelled at him, when the others looked at him, "I ate a devil fruit that can turn me into a phoenix but that brat keeps calling me a fried chicken-yoi!" he grumbled and Luffy followed Ace and Sabo.

"Please take care of them" Makino and also Dadan said.

"I know, Old Man thinks of those brats as his sons so their our little brothers. We'll make them stronger, strong enough to protect those precious to them and keep them...relatively safer than here, if half those stories about Garp they said were true. Seriously dropping them in Sea King breeding grounds to teach them how to swim, they could have been eaten-yoi" he said and added that last part as an after thought.

"That's true" Dadan said as she remembered the hellish training Garp would put those kids through.

"What are we going to tell Garp?" Dogra said nervously.

"We are so dead" Mogra replied back.

"Yeah, well" Marco started and everyone looked at him, "Umm...I can promise they are safer than they are here but overall I can only say this. It was nice knowing you, good luck-yoi" he said and the Bandits started to panic even more.

"Calm down, Luffy, Sabo and Ace left of heir own free will to follow their dreams. No matter what they are I will support them" Makino said strongly and they calmed down.

"We're done" three voices chorused and Ace, Sabo and Luffy came out of the hideout with their stuff packed. Luffy had the biggest bag of them all.

"Luffy, what's in the bag?" Marco asked.

"In-flight snacks" he said right back and Marco groaned, " _Great, just pile more weight on my back. Little brat"_ he thought.

"Ok now say goodbyes and all that stuff-yoi" Marco said.

"Makino, I'm going to miss you" Luffy said and hugged her and she hugged him back, "I'll miss you to Luffy" and she beckoned the other two, "Come on, don't let Luffy steal all the hugs. You're both as precious to me as Luffy is" she said and Ace and Sabo joined in the hug.

After she let go Luffy walked up to Dadan, "I told you I don't like mountain bandits" he said and Dadan yelled, "SHUT UP BRAT!" and Luffy contined, "But I like you guys!" he said with a smile and Dadan burst into tears, "Oh just get lost, you little brat!" she said with choked sobs.

Ace walked up to her and said, "Thank you for everything" he said and gave a bow. Dadan was speechless at first and burst into tears again, "You get lost as well, you damn brat!" she wailed.

Sabo went up to her, "I still think your a no-good old hag who's a man among men" he said and Dadan got ticked again, "SHUT IT BRAT!" and Sabo continued, "But you have a heart of gold, thank you for taking me in" he said and Dadan burst into tears, "Oh just leave already and stop making me cry!" she said back at them.

Dogra, Magra and even the dog were crying, "We're going to miss you Ace, Sabo and Luffy" they said.

"We'll miss you too" Luffy said with a smile.

"Mayor-ossan" Luffy said but Woop Slap cut them off, "I'm still ticked your all becoming Pirates" he said and then continued in a softer tone, "Take care of each other" and the three smiled and said yes.

"Ok, so your all ready to go" Marco said.

"Wait" Ace said and pulled out a bottle of sake and 3 cups.

"ACE! THAT'S MY SAKE" Dadan yelled but only half-heartedly.

"We shared drinks and became brothers. It's only right to share a drink as we set sail and become pirates" Ace said as he opened it and placed the cups on a table outside the hideout.

"Hey, you kids are still underage and..." Woop Slap said but the three already poured it out. Ace poured it in the three cups and the each picked up one.

"From today..." Ace said.

"...we've finally become..." Sabo said.

"PIRATES!" Luffy yelled out the last part.

"Kanpai!" the chorused and clinked the cups and drank the sake.

Marco realised that every word they said was true, their bond was their most priceless possession. He couldn't help but wonder what brought three kids with potential to become legendary together. As individuals they could become a threat to the world, but together was even more terrifying. One thing was for sure, the world is going to change and those three will be at the forefront of a new era.

* * *

"All right, let's go" Marco said and turned into a phoenix and got Ace and Sabo on his back, while Luffy was hanging from his feet but not screaming since he was stuffing himself. Before they left they waved goodbye to Makino, the bandits, the old mayor and they left.

"Do you reckon we'll see them again?" Sabo asked.

"Who knows? But that place was the first place I ever felt at home, I'm never going to forget the place or the people there that made it feel like home" Ace said.

"I am" Luffy said as he was hanging on Marco, "When I turn 17, I'm going to become the Pirate King! And I am going to start right here and work my way through the Grand Line" he said.

Marco asked, "But why, you could start in the New World-yoi"

Luffy said, "Because it's the beginning of my story. And besides it's cooler that way. I would have sailed the whole thing just like the Pirate King did!"

Marco smiled a little at that but went back to flying, avoided the next few trees but went back to normal height after Luffy asked if he lays eggs.

* * *

"So you brats ready to go?" Whitebeard asked.

"Yeah!" they said.

"Man, who would have thought we'd be picking up kids on our ship" Vista said.

"Life's weird like that" Jozu said as he watched the three kids run around.

"Well the ship just got a lot more fun" Thatch said.

"It's certainly louder" Namur said.

"These brats are going to kill me with a migraine-yoi" Marco said.

"That's great Marco because they're your responsibility till we get back. It will be great mental training for you" Whitebeard said with a smile and Marco fell on his knees.

"Old man, please no!" he whispered.

"Pineapple fried chicken-ossan!" Luffy yelled.

"Kill me now-yoi" Marco said and curled up into a ball.

The Whitebeard pirates had a good laugh at that sight and set sail into the Grand Line.

* * *

Luffy came up with the most interesting of nicknames for everyone. Marco was still Pineapple fried chicken, something he resented greatly. Whitebeard was still old walrus but he didn't really care. Jozu became Sparkles after he used his diamond powers, much to his annoyance at such a girly nickname. Thatch became hair-puff but Thatch had to agree, it could be worse and didn't want to risk getting a worse nickname so he let it slide. Vista became flower guy after showing his swordsmanship and he joined Jozu in complaining with his girly nickname. Namur got shark dude and everyone rounded on him and was ticked he got the only cool sounding nickname while Namur wondered what the heck did he do.

All in all, it was an interesting journey. Ace, Sabo and Luffy trained a lot with the pirates and Luffy managed to get better control over his powers since there were two paramecia's on board and Ace could no longer say being made of rubber was useless but he still won the fights.

They learned a lot about the grand line and other general skills and information about fighting and miraculously, even Luffy managed to learn. Marco was going nuts trying to teach him anything, even bribing him with meat but Whitebeard came in and saw what was wrong.

He said that if Luffy doesn't know how to sail through the Grand Line and fight tough opponents then he won't get to One Piece and become the Pirate King and Whitebeard would become the Pirate King instead. With that idea in his head, Luffy learned but he was still the overall idiot on deck and Marco was banging his head against the wall and cursing himself for not thinking that for a week.

"So which is the best class of Devil Fruit? Paramecia, Zoan or Logia" Sabo asked one day.

Marco said Zoan while Whitebeard who was behind him glared and Marco changed his answer.

"It's hard to judge it like that Sabo. Devil Fruits can be really powerful in each class, for example Old Man's Gura Gura no mi is a Paramecia and he could destroy the world with it. My Mythical Zoan is also really powerful as well. All three admirals for the Navy are Logia users so you can't judge like that. Plus it also comes down to the user of the devil fruit and it's the hard work they put in to mastering their abilities makes them strong. For example, the strongest Shichibukai, Don Quixote Doflamingo uses the Ito Ito no mi and can create strings but mastered it to the point where he is seriously dangerous in a fight" Marco said and they nodded.

"But the best class is Paramecia, if Yonko use paramecia devil fruits then you know it's good" Whitebeard said and Luffy jumped up and screamed, "YES! I knew the Gomu gomu no mi was the best!" and Jozu agreed as well.

Marco glared at them and felt a little lonely being the only Zoan but went back to teaching them.

They managed to get through the Red Line safely and Marco taught them about using a Log Pose and how important they are in the grand line.

"Listen up brats" Marco said, "Sabo, you can't use a regular compass in the Grand Line. The islands here give off a magnetic field and that messes with the compass so you have to use a log pose. It will lock on to the magnetic field of one island and take you there. Then the Log Pose will reset and lock onto the next island and you continue like that in the first half of the Grand Line-yoi" Marco said and they nodded.

They sailed through the Grand Line quickly and easily and Ace, Sabo and Luffy got a lot stronger as they sailed. For one thing Luffy could throw a punch properly and started to develop a whole host of crazy techniques, but then again it's Luffy. Ace found a devil fruit while sailing and asked Whitebeard about it, he said that on his ship if someone finds a fruit it's theirs to decide what to do with it. Ace decided to eat it and Luffy was right, it tasted like crap.

He found out that he had the Mera mera no mi, a powerful Logia and bragged about it to Luffy but he still believed the Gomu Gomu no mi was the best. Whitebeard warned Ace about the weakness of all Logias and Ace paid attention. All Logia's tend to get big-headed with their invulnerability and die early deaths from a Haki user and showed that he could still touch Ace, even though he was a logia. Ace decided to follow Whitebeard's advice and followed with his training.

As they travelled, the three brothers became much greater friends as they fought together. Ace and Sabo would team up to protect Luffy from doing something stupid and reckless, that boy needed constant supervision 24/7! Ace accepted Whitebeard as his father as he would have no one else be his father and so did Sabo and Luffy followed as well but still kept calling him Walrus. Marco drilled manners into all three of them but with Luffy he was trying to go through bedrock, it just didn't work so he gave up.

Sabo decided to not eat a devil's fruit, considering he would have to catch the two when they fall into water. And they did fall into water a lot, morons.

As they crossed the red line again through Fishman Island they finally made it to the New World and reunited with the rest of Whitebeard's men.

* * *

"OLD MAN YOU'RE BACK!" they yelled as they saw the ship pull in closer and they all boarded the Moby Dick.

"Walrus-ossan, your ship is a WHALE! That's so COOL!" Luffy said with stars in his eyes.

"Everyone gather around" Whitebeard called and his crew assembled.

"You all have three little brothers now. I found some interesting kids with lots of potential and decided to take them in" he said and Ace, Sabo and Luffy showed themselves.

"I'm Portgas D. Ace, nice to meet you" Ace said.

"I'm Sabo, nice to meet you as well" Sabo said.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy. The man who will become the Pirate King!" he yelled and everyone was speechless and Whitebeard laughed.

"Gurarararara! You'll have to beat me brat if you want that title, I'm not going to let anyone just have it" he said.

"Ok, I will kick your butt and become the pirate king!" he yelled and everyone burst into laughter.

Looks like the next few years are going to be more interesting.

* * *

"So how many did we lose?" Whitebeard asked Marco after he finished going round the ship and the different divisions.

"Not too many but your absence was something the Navy used to their advantage-yoi" Marco said with a sigh.

"Well, they expect me to stand down for a bit from these attacks. Sengoku wouldn't do something like this so it was the Gorosei" Whitebeard said.

"Should we fight back-yoi" he asked back.

Whitebeard mulled it over for a bit and answered, "No. It's what they expect but sometimes, what they expect can also be the right course of action. We have three kids to look after so jumping into the Navy for a fight isn't smart. For now we lay a bit lower than usual and let the Gorosei think they got what they want. We can use that time to train Ace, Sabo and Luffy. They're already at the start of the Grand Line material, which is shocking for kids so young but if we want to bump them up to New World material we need to train them hard"

"But is that possible, teaching Haki to some kids is insane-yoi" Marco said but Whitebeard laughed, "Gurararara! Marco these kids awoke Conqueror's Haki at ages 10 and 7. How can they not learn the other two easily?" he asked and Marco had to agree with him on that.

* * *

Back at Navy HQ

"Ok Garp, since Whitebeard is back and earlier than we thought I'm giving you two months off, but that's it OK" Sengoku said as he sorted through his paperwork and whined again about the horrid, horrid existence of this monstrosity.

(In another universe a blond guy was laughing while sitting on his chair and relaxing while clones did his paperwork for him)

Sangoku snapped back to reality when a celebrating Garp went through the wall with his fist.

"GARP! STOP BREAKING MY WALLS!" he yelled at him.

 _"Yeesh, if he stayed around I would have told him about those three kids who were reported to be seen with Whitebeard"_ he thought, _"It's probably a dumb rumour"_ he thought and went back to his paperwork.

* * *

After a quick trip Garp returned to Windmill village and went to Mount Corvo.

"ACE, LUFFY, BLOND KID!" Garp yelled, "GET OUT HERE OR IT'S GOING TO BE A FIST OF LOVE" he yelled.

Dadan came out shaking with Dogra and Magra, _"Oh I am so dead"_ she thought.

"Oh Dadan" he said, "Where is Luffy and the others?" he asked.

"W-we-well, it-it's a fu-funny st-story" she stuttered and Garp assumed the worst.

"WHITEBEARD TOOK THEM!" he yelled.

"How did he guess?" both Dogra and Magra said without thinking and Dadan slapped her head.

" **WHAT**!" Garp yelled at the top of his lungs.

"Wait Garp-san, they weren't taken. They left on their own" Makino said as she came out of the hideout along with Woop Slap. She was staying with them for a bit and Dadan was a nice person to hand around with and they would trade stories about Luffy, Ace and Sabo.

"WAIT WHAT!" Garp yelled, "WHY WOULD WHITEBEARD TAKE KIDS ON HIS SHIP!"

"Apparently they all had something called Conqueror's Haki..." Woop Slap but was cut off again by Garp.

"CONQUEROR'S HAKI! ALL THREE OF THEM! BUT THEY'RE KIDS, HOW THE HECK WOULD THEY AWAKEN THAT!" he yelled.

"Perhaps it's best to explain from the beginning, preferably without interruptions" Woop Slap said.

Dadan explained all that happened after he left, when they ran away and lost Sabo and finding out about Sabo's life as a noble and how he hated it, then the Terminal Fire and the kids were stuck in the middle of it, then Sabo's "death" from the Tenryuubitos, then how he was saved by Whitebeard who was visiting, then how they wanted to become stronger so they could protect everyone and wanted to learn this Haki stuff, and how they left from the village.

Garp was silent the whole time and after he did find his voice he said, "Well it's not your fault Dadan or even the mountain bandits. A lot happened while I was gone. I can't believe the nobles actually did that" he said.

"When the kids realised Marines work for nobles and the Tenryuubito that shot Sabo and made his life hell all chances of them becoming Marines shot down the drain" Woop Slap said.

"I was trying to protect them..." he said.

"Garp, Marines always follow that Absolute Justice bullshit even though there are some like you who don't. If you did manage to get them in the Marines by some miracle, one day their heritage would be found out and even if they were Admirals they would be executed for their "bad blood". I wanted them to become marines or just anything but pirates and give the village a bad name but I suppose some things are inevitable." Woop Slap said back at him.

"Garp, as their caretaker, even thought I was forced into it. Ace has never been happy, ever. When he found out about his father he felt he had no place in the world and his existence was a sin. It was only after he met Luffy and Sabo that it changed. He actually smiled and acted like a human instead of an unfeeling jerk. They are going to look after each other through thick and thin and follow their dreams, that's what makes them happy. A part of me was tearing up as I saw them leave but another part was happy that they were overjoyed in becoming pirates" Dadan said surprisingly.

After a very long silence Garp found his voice and spoke up, "Ok" and surprised everyone.

"I wanted them to be marines but you were right, the Absolute Justice system would have them killed if they were even the Fleet Admiral. I wanted them to be good people" he said.

Makino spoke up, "Garp-san, those three kids couldn't be evil if they tried. Ace has a good heart and protects everyone, Sabo always looks for freedom and tries to help others achieve it and Luffy" she said and thought about her words, "Luffy will become the Pirate King, I once remember Shanks telling me about him and his good heart and how Luffy reminds him of Gold Roger. I know he will be a good person at heart."

Garp looked taken aback by this and nodded, "Fine. let those idiot kids become pirates" he said angrily.

"You don't want to fight them" Woop Slap said as he figured out the problem. Garp looked at him and nodded reluctantly.

"Garp, I known you for a while" Dadan said, "There is no way in heck you could hurt or kill one of them. Your heart won't let you because they're your family. Accept that and the pain will start to leave" she said and took a drink and gave one to Garp who took it in one gulp.

"Ok but..." he said but then yelled, "IF I SEE THOSE BRATS AGAIN, I'M GOING TO GIVE THEM THE BIGGEST FIST OF LOVE YET! THEY CAN'T JUST LEAVE WITHOUT GIVING THEIR GRANDFATHER A GOODBYE!" he yelled and cheered back up.

He knew Whitebeard would keep them safe, one of the qualities he admired about the man was he protected his crew mates with his life. To this day he had never got a wound on his back from running away and Garp had known him for a long time. He would train them to control their Haki they were in good hands, but seriously they were going to get a good fist when he sees them again!

* * *

Garp went deep into the forest and tuned on his Transponder Snail and dialled a private number. The ringing of the snail continued for a minute before the other end picked up.

"What is it?" the voice asked.

"I...don't really know how to save this" Garp said.

"Did something happen to Luffy" The voice said bluntly but had a bit of steel.

"Yes. That idiot brat went with Whitebeard to the sea!" Garp said back.

The other line was silent so Garp explained the full story of what happened.

"I see...Whitebeard will take care of them. I will try to make contact with them" the voice said.

"I sent a manual for Rokushiki that I was planning on teaching to the three brats to you. See if you can send it to your only idiot son and his idiot brothers" Garp said seriously.

"You would trust me with that" the voice said in surprise.

"I have no other choice. He is my Grandson and I will protect him, even if I can't be there for him" Garp said.

"You haven't changed father" the voice said and cut the line.

"But you have, Dragon" Garp said and put down the receiver.

* * *

As we return to the Whitebeard flagship, the Moby Dick we find our three main characters and the rest of their family.

"Ace and Sabo, I've gotten way stronger and I'm going to kick your butts" Luffy said. Age 12.

"Luffy, Ace. Don't think I'm going to back down so easily" Sabo said. Age 15.

"Sabo, Luffy. Less talk, more fire" Ace said. Age 15.

As they stayed on the Moby Dick the crew mates were shocked at how quickly they were growing. It seemed like yesterday they were little kids, now they were demolishers.

Ace and his Mera Mera no mi would be able to be a challenge to the commanders and he didn't let his Logia get to his head and practiced Haki diligently. He became a master of Armament Haki and learnt the other two and regularly duelled Luffy and Sabo, but usually came out as the victor.

Sabo didn't eat any devil fruit, preferring to be the only one who could swim to regularly save Luffy who would fall into the water despite eating a Devil Fruit and Ace who would jump in after him and forget he also ate a devil fruit. He became a master of Observational Haki as he was the smartest among the trio and the most observant in a fight and also learnt the other two. In his duels he could beat Ace some times but always trump Luffy any day.

Luffy had his Gomu Gomu no mi and despite having what has to be the stupidest of powers he managed to turn it into a devastator in battle. He mastered all three forms of Haki and kept trying to fully master his Conqueror's Haki but he wasn't quite there yet. He would get beaten by Ace and Sabo any day of the week but that never stopped him believing that he could beat the two of them one day.

They participated in fights that Whitebeard was confident that they could win and the others would step in if there was an enemy that would be too much for them. Eventually the Navy had to recognise three kids as an actual threat to the Marines and issued bounties 2 years after they joined.

Dragon managed to deliver the Rokushiki manual to Whitebeard who told him about what Garp wanted and asked him to keep Luffy safe. Whitebeard told him to piss off and come back when he grew a pair and talked to Luffy but he left anyway.

The three took to Rokushiki very quickly and Luffy went even further than Ace and Sabo and modified Soru into something he called Gear Second and surprised the heck out of everyone in the crew. Seriously he reached speeds where they had trouble fighting him, the downside was that after he released Gear second he nearly collapsed out of hunger. Whitebeard realised that Gear Second was starving him in a way because all his muscles were taking in nutrients from his body in huge quantities so he was shortening his lifespan. They worked with him to only use Gear Second in short bursts and Luffy managed to master it.

Then he had an even stupider idea called Gear Third. This time he blew air into his bones and inflated them. Everyone thought it was a joke until Ace was on the receiving end of a punch from a giant. Luffy was laughing his head off, until he dispelled this technique and shrunk to a chibi. To which everyone had to say "Awwww" as he looked like a 5 year old. Of course when Ace got back up and was going to pound Luffy he got a look at the chibi and burst into laughter.

Vista offered to teach the kids swordsmanship, but Ace was happy with his fire fists and a dagger he found from an enemy ship and a pistol, Sabo was happy with his pipe and was the only one left who used that. Luffy gave it a try since pipes never fully worked for him and he took to sword play quite quickly. Vista helped him become a free style swordsman and with his gomu gomu no mi a sword that can shoot out forwards at you can be great to surprise others.

One day when battling an enemy ship and raiding it Luffy found a cursed meito and showed it to the crew and his brothers. Vista immediately paled and told Luffy that was the Shodai Kitetsu, a cursed meito that killed hundreds who tried to wield it in the most gruesome of ways and warned him to throw it away immediately, an idea instantly backed up by Sabo, Ace and the rest of the crew. Luffy then had an idea and did an old technique that swordsmen use to see if they are worthy of a sword. He threw it into the air and stuck his arm out under the sword. The sword curved and didn't slice off his arm and embedded into the ship. Luffy got a few concussions from the beatings Ace and Sabo gave him for how stupid that was while Vista was freaked out he would do something like that he still let Luffy keep the sword. Luffy went on to become an excellent swordsman like Shanks and even surprised Vista at how far he came in it in only a few years. Luffy didn't use the sword all the time and it was mostly just something to add to his repertoire, he agreed with Ace that it was best to stick with your fists but if he came across a swordsman he could at least give them a good fight with blades.

It wasn't all good times, no when Luffy met Marshall D. Teach he instantly disliked him and he didn't know why. Ace thought he was being paranoid and Sabo wanted to believe Luffy but other than being fat and eating pies, he really wasn't that bad.

But Luffy fears proved to be all to true...

* * *

"Oy, Hair-puff. What's that" Luffy said as Thatch came back one day.

"Luffy, check it out. I found a devil fruit!" Thatch said, "I've decided I'm going to eat it!" he said firmly.

Teach was keeping his distance the whole time but never let his eyes of Thatch and the fruit. _"The Yami Yami no mi. Finally, I've been waiting for this"_ he thought with a smirk.

At night Thatch was alone with the fruit and Teach was sneaking up on him and was going to slit his throat when...

"Hair-puff, where's the MEAT!" a voice yelled and _"It was that idiot, Luffy"_ , Teach thought.

Thatch left the Devil Fruit on the table and went to the kitchen for Luffy. If he didn't then there may be no food left for the rest of the crew and Luffy was merciless when it came to food.

 _"Can I really be this lucky?"_ Teach thought with a smirk. He ate the Devil Fruit quickly and stole a row-boat from the Moby Dick and left in the dead of the night.

"Yes, ZEHAHAHAHA! With the power of Darkness, I will rule the world. Get ready world, for the age of MARSHALL D. TEACH IS COMING!" ZEHAHAHAHAHAHA!" he yelled as soon as he was far enough and sailed off on his journey into darkness.

When Thatch came back he noticed a distinct lack of a Devil Fruit, _"Hm? Where the heck did that Devil Fruit go?"_ he thought in confusion, _"Maybe it fell overboard, whatever"_ he thought and went back to his room to fall asleep.

* * *

The next morning, they noticed Teach had vanished and so did Thatch's devil fruit and it didn't take long to put two and two together. Ace being the hot-head wanted to go after Teach for stealing the devil fruit and breaking the policy on Whitebeard's ship but Thatch pointed out it was just a stupid devil fruit and besides he later decided he liked swimming too much and was going to throw it away as it gave off an unsettling vibe. Sabo and Luffy agreed it wasn't worth getting angry for but if they see Teach again, he is going to be on the receiving end of a few good punches.

But they had their own revenge against Teach and told the world they were offering a good sum of money and a position on their crew if anyone brings in Teach, dead but preferably alive. Luffy just kept saying, "I told you so" to the rest of them who had to admit Luffy was right.

* * *

One day on Sabo's 15th birthday.

"Everyone" Sabo said as the crew celebrated his birthday.

"I've decided what I want to do with my life" Sabo said and everyone paid attention.

"All my life, I've lived in oppression and misery because of my parents who were damned Nobles. I hate them so much and it was only thanks to my brothers and you guys I can be here now. I've decided to join the Revolutionaries, people who want to change the system that is getting more and more corrupt and help other children like me who were almost driven to madness find something that they are denied their whole lives, freedom" Sabo said and everyone cheered.

"Sabo, my son. A father always supports his children's dreams. I would be lying if I said I didn't want you to stay on the ship but it's time you got to decide what you want to do with your life" Whitebeard said with a smile and everyone cheered.

"Good luck Sabo"

"We'll miss you"

"Show those Revolutionaries how the Whitebeards do a job"

Everyone cheered him on and the celebrations went on well into the night.

* * *

In their private quarters Luffy, Ace and Sabo gathered around.

"SABO! I'M GONNA MISS YOU" Luffy said while crying and hugging (choking) him.

"Y..es, Lu...can't...bre...athe" he choked out and Ace dragged Luffy of Sabo.

"Sabo, this is crazy? What happened to our bond?" Ace yelled at him.

"Ace, this bond will always be my most precious treasure" Sabo started.

"THEN WHY ARE YOU LEAVING?" he yelled.

"I need to do this" Sabo said back, "I love the Whitebeards and I love you guys but this isn't my dream. I always sought freedom more than anything and to enjoy it with everyone I care about. Every time I think of that I remember all those years of hell I had to go through because of my parents and it tears me up thinking about other children who go through what I had to. When I heard about the revolutionaries trying to change the world I realised I wanted to join it more than anything. Ace, please try to understand"

"I understand" Luffy said and everyone looked at him, "This is your journey and I'm GONNA MISS YOU A LOT! But we always knew one day we would end up on different crews and go our separate ways. That's what the sake cups were for, to make sure we would be brothers first no matter what happens".

"Thanks, Luffy. I'll never understand how you can go from smart to stupid in a moments notice" Sabo said after a silence and joked out the last part but only got a "Shishishishi" in response.

Ace was struggling to say something, he wasn't exactly the best with words. "Sabo, I'm going to miss you but remember your a brother first and then a revolutionary" he said.

"Yeah same to you two as well. And Ace, you'll have to take care of our idiot brother Luffy" Sabo said, "You can be responsible when you need to be so don't think you can't take care of him on your own".

"I'm right here!" Luffy yelled.

"I'll try" Ace said.

Sabo smiled and pulled out a bottle of sake.

"Hey isn't that the old walrus's special sake?" Luffy said curiously and both of them yelled "SHHHH!" and clamped Luffy's mouth.

"I stole it when we were partying. It only feels right to do this with stolen sake" Sabo said with a smirk and pulled out three sake cups.

"Yeah, but I would do the stealing" Ace said and took a cup and Luffy took the second. Sabo poured sake into all three cups.

"Even if Sabo leaves..." Ace said.

"...we will always be..." Sabo said.

"BROTHERS!" Luffy yelled.

"Kanpai" they chorused and drank the cup.

With a small afterparty the three slept in peace not knowing that Whitebeard found out who stole his sake and had Luffy, Ace and Sabo practice fighting with him, needless to say they got the stuffing knocked out of them but it was worth it!

* * *

Finally one morning, Sabo had all his stuff packed up and supplies.

"Brat, you sure you know what you're doing-yoi" Marco said.

"Yes Marco, I packed everything I need. I have a lead from one of Whitebeard's informants about the Revolutionaries and I'm going to follow it. I'll be safe" he said resolutely.

"SABO! GOOD LUCK! BYE!" Luffy kept saying and Ace also wished him good luck and bye.

"Sabo, take care"

"Good luck Sabo"

"We'll miss you Sabo"

Was some of the things the whitebeard pirates said as Sabo set sail and slowly vanished from the horizon.

"Yosh Luffy" Ace said and Luffy looked at him.

"Now that Sabo's not here, I'm going to train you so hard that you will cry" Ace said with an evil smirk.

"Bring it on Ace!" Luffy said, "I won't cry. I'm going to get much stronger and kick your butt!"

* * *

The ship was noticeably louder considering without Sabo there was no peacemaker between Ace and Luffy's fights but once in a fight with admirals Luffy almost died, Ace realised his hot-headedness almost got him killed and vowed to be a better older brother to Luffy. Luffy was saved from Akainu but had a X shaped scar on his chest where Akainu almost melted his insides with magma. Of course when Sabo heard about this he snapped and berated Ace through a Transponder Snail for hours.

Eventually after half a year of following leads he managed to get inducted into the Revolutionaries and every day he would tell Ace and Luffy that he was alright and reassure them that he was fine as the brothers couldn't help but worry for him, but personally Sabo was more worried that there was no one to catch Luffy when he falls into the water.

As the years flew by Ace, Luffy and Sabo grew much more infamous.

Ace became Fire Fist Ace. Bounty: 550,000,000 beli and Whitebeard made him the 2nd Division commander, since his strength was increasing every day.

Sabo became Gentleman Sabo. Bounty: 525,000,000 beli. Both brothers rounded on him and wondered how he got a moniker like that but Sabo said he usually tried to have good manners, even with his enemies but was annoyed he didn't get anything more intimidating.

Luffy became Straw Hat Luffy. Bounty: 500,000,000 beli. He was really happy with his moniker as his Straw Hat was his pride and joy. Whitebeard offered the same position of division commander to Luffy but he refused and said that he would still be the Pirate King and he can't have a captain but he said "thanks dad" all the same.

All three of them made sure to honour Whitebeard being their father. Luffy and Sabo had a tattoo of Whitebeard's symbol on their right bicep while Ace had it on his back just like Whitebeard. All three of them had a tattoo of ASL on their left bicep to always honour their bond of brotherhood.

* * *

Soon the day for Luffy's 17th birthday came up and there was a huge party.

"Everyone" Luffy yelled, "Now that I'm 17, I'm going to begin my journey to become the PIRATE KING! Thanks for everything and being my family and take care of Ace!" he yelled.

"You can do it Luffy"

"Good luck Luffy"

"We'll miss you a lot Luffy"

Was some of the responses, everyone would miss Luffy, he was the action and source of non-stop entertainment and had the spirit of adventure. Even Marco would miss him a bit, but he would never admit it. That brat was seriously annoying but in a weirdly good way.

They partied on well into the night and with Luffy they went almost all through the night. Eventually they all fell asleep and Luffy couldn't wait for his adventures.

* * *

Then came the morning of departure. Luffy and Ace were leaving. Ace was going with him to drop him off as it was an unspoken rule that Luffy always needed supervision to stop him doing something stupid, or at least try since he was a stubborn idiot most of the time and Ace had the highest success rate in keeping Luffy in check. They both used Ace's longboat that he could power with his Mera Mera no mi and were at Fishman Island. Ace was dreassed with no shirt and shorts with a dagger, a belt and hat with a smiley and sad face on it and a skull necklace (Ace's clothes in canon). Luffy was dressed in a red cardigan which he didn't button up and showed his X scar, blue shorts held up with a yellow sash and had the Shodai Kitetsu on his back, sandals and his Straw Hat.

"Luffy, ready to go" Ace said.

"Yeah" Luffy said.

Luffy turned to the Whitebeard pirates, "Everyone, thank you so much. It's been the best years of my life and I wouldn't trade it for anything" he said and turned to Whitebeard, "Walrus-ossan, I'm going to do it. I'm going to become the PIRATE KING!" he said. Whitebeard could almost feel tears forming in his eyes, Shanks was right; it was the splitting image of Roger. He was proud of his son and knew he would go far.

"Luffy, REACH THE TOP!" he said loudly and Luffy grinned and laughed, "Shishishishi, YEAH!" he said and said his goodbyes to the Whitebeards.

Ace and Luffy got on the boat with bubble coating and set sail to East Blue.

"Ace, what do you think would have happened if we never met the Whitebeards" Luffy asked while they were sailing..

Ace was surprised but answered, "You would have become Pirate King anyway, Luffy. There is no way you couldn't" he said with a laugh, "I have to make sure to see that and challenge you to a fight. Then I can say I beat the Pirate King"

Luffy was ticked, "I would totally kick your butt Ace!" he yelled.

"Sure, sure Luffy" Ace said with a smirk, "Now let's go!" he said as they surfaced and sailed back to East Blue.

* * *

Back at Marine HQ

"It seems Fire fist Ace and Straw Hat Luffy have been seen heading to East Blue" one gorosei said.

"They are the most promising rookie's of their generation, it would be ideal to have them as Shichibukai" another said.

"Straw Hat Luffy is now a free pirate and not a part of the Whitebeards any longer if our intelligence is correct" another said.

"We should aim to eliminate the both of them now but Whitebeard has been acting up a lot more. It seems he is using our own tactic against us and making us focus on him instead of those rookies" another one deduced.

"However once they return to the Grand Line we can aim to target them. We must take down the seeds of evil before they take root" the final one said.

What they didn't know was Garp heard the whole thing outside the room and left right back to Marineford and put in a vacation leave. _"So those brats finally returned have they"_ he thought with a smirk. Every journey needs to begin with a bang after all and Garp had a lot of overdue fists of love to his grandchildren.

A new era was starting to come up and a wave of change was beginning to form. The wave would engulf the world in a turbulence of change, but that's a story for another day!

 ** _AND DONE! NO MORE NEW FANFICS AFTER THIS AS I DECIDED THREE IS MY LIMIT AT ONE TIME. I HOPE THIS STORY WORKS AND NO LUFFY WILL NOT BE OVERPOWERED AS HECK. I INTEND TO MAKE ALL MAJOR FIGHTS HARDER, FOR EXAMPLE CROCODILE OR ENEL OR TEACH BUT MORONS LIKE BUGGY AND JERKS LIKE ARLONG ARE GOING TO GET PULVERISED. THE ASL TRIO IS MY FAVOURITE AND I WANTED IT TO STAY. SADLY NO MATTER HOW MUCH I LOVE WHITEBEARD HE MAY HAVE TO DIE SO EXPECT THAT TO HAPPEN UNLESS I HAVE A BRAINWAVE AND FIGURE OUT A WAY TO CHANGE IT. PLEASE READ, REVIEW, PM ME ABOUT THIS STORY AND THANK YOU FOR READING! THERE IS ALSO A POLL TO DECIDE THE PAIRING SO PLEASE VOTE! BYE!_**


	2. Chapter 2: The wayward swordsman

One Piece: Path to Pirate King

Summary:

Whitebeard's interest was directed to a small island in East Blue from Shanks's comments about the new era. He goes to find this brat that will lead the new era but finds 3? Follow the adventures of Monkey D. Luffy as he sails through the Grand Line to become the Pirate King! Strong Luffy! ASL trio! Haki and rokushiki ASL! Rated T but may change. Bit OOC Luffy.

 **Author's note:**

 **I'm sorry for everyone who asked for Luffy x Multi but I tried to work it into the plan of my story but it didn't work at all in my opinion. Again it was bad foresight on my part and I sincerely apologise for it. But I never was known for giving up so I'm going to try and bring Nami, Robin and Hancock closer to Luffy and see if multi can work. If not then I just pick and say I'm sorry. It's not impossible unless you try, I learnt that from writing my own fanfiction!**

 **Reviews:**

 **Mohit333Sharma:**

 **Thank you for your review. Pairings can be decided on the poll.**

 **Bubble MaKeRr:**

 **Thank you for your support.**

 **Lightningblade49:**

 **Thank you for your review. Some will not recognise him mostly because wanted posters of big-shot pirates rarely go out of the grand line. Otherwise Windmill village and those bandits may have realised Shanks was a Yonko, people will realise who Luffy and it will be funny to imagine the shock on their faces. Thank you for always reviewing my stories and I value your input as you were one of my first reviewers when I started a little over a month ago.**

 **apriliarsv:**

 **I intend for the other crew members to get stronger. Luffy will also progress but it would depend on the new techniques Oda gives Luffy, if nothing good comes up then I'll make my own. It might be fun trying to make a Gear Fifth.**

 **UnderTakerxXxMadnesS:**

 **Come on Sabo definitely has it. I am like 99% sure Oda is going to have a big reveal where Sabo uses it but the big reveals is why we all love his story, when he revealed Raftel and how to find it I almost had a heart attack at the titanic revelation.**

 **silentlyfallen + Guest + Guest:**

 **Thank you for your kind review.**

 **thelostyonko:**

 **Thank you for your review. A lot of people asked for ships but I will try to keep all characters the same unless I say that I am changing it a bit. Bro, I like Law too. He is an awesome guy. Ace must live, I don't want him to die at all! Marco may give Shanks a new scar and maybe an eyepatch when he sees him.**

 _Thoughts: Italics_  
 **Techniques: Bold**  
Emphasis in speech: Underline

Chapter 2: The wayward swordsman

"We're back!" Ace said as his Mera Mera powered longboat reached Dawn island. Or more specifically Windmill village. Luffy and Ace looked at the sights around them and felt nostalgia wash over them. How long has it been since they saw this place?

"Ace, let's head to Party's bar" Luffy said and hopped of the boat and ran towards the village.

"Luffy, wait for me!" Ace said as he docked the boat and ran to catch up to Luffy.

Ace ran to catch up to Luffy but as they ran they couldn't help but feel the familiar waves wash over them as they ran through the village.

* * *

"MAKINO, I'M BACK!" Luffy yelled as he walked into Party's Bar, in there was Makino, Dadan, Dogra, Magra, and Woop Slap. All of whom had shocked expressions at the grinning boy in the straw hat walk into the bar. Luffy ran up to his stool and sat down and grinned, "You guys look like you've seen a ghost!" he said.

"L-lu-luffy" Makino sobbed after she got over her surprise and rushed forwards into a hug and Luffy returned and everyone was still stunned.

"LUFFY!" Ace said as he walked in as well, "There you are!" Ace said as he walked into the bar.

"Luffy, who's that?" Dogra said.

"He's new" Magra added.

"N-no way" Dadan said as she dropped her drink.

"Hey, you recognise Luffy but not me?" Ace said jokingly, "Then again I can't help it if I look more awesome than ever. It's me Ace, you guys!"

"A-ACE!" Woop Slap said in surprise and Dogra and Magra were jaw-dropping at what they were seeing. Makino let go of Luffy and gave Ace a hug as well, "Ace, you too!" she said and Ace returned the hug.

"Man I need a drink" Ace said as he let go and sat next to Luffy.

"How have you guys been" Luffy said.

"Never mind us brat, how have you been. You were the ones who went to the most dangerous of seas as KIDS!" Dadan said and Luffy and Ace laughed.

"We definitely got stronger. A lot stronger and were going to get even stronger still and I'm going to become the Pirate King" Luffy said with a grin. Ace laughed and got him in a headlock and gave him a noogie. "Yeah, but first you need to get stronger than me and that's not going to happen any day soon" Ace said with a grin and let him go.

"Shishishishi, OK" Luffy said with a grin.

"Where's Sabo?" Woop Slap asked.

"Sabo joined the Revolutionaries, he's on some mission so he couldn't come" Ace said.

"Well we're here and more food for us. I want some meat!" Luffy said, "Let's put it on Sabo's tab, Makino!"

Makino giggled and said, "Oh dear, Sabo might go broke" she said and went into the kitchen to get as much meat as possible.

"Well let's eat something" Ace said, "Besides I need to wait for Luffy to get a nakama and then get back to the New World" Ace said.

"Ehh, why?" Luffy said and Ace knocked his head, "Moron, like I can leave you alone unsupervised. Knowing you, you would sail into a whirlpool on your first day or something!" he snapped.

"Shishishi, your going to get high blood pressure. Ace" Luffy said with a grin.

"So is your poor future crew" Ace said back at him.

Makino came back with plates of steak and rice and gave it to Ace and Luffy, "Dig in" she said and the two were only too happy to oblige. After 5 minutes they cleaned it out.

"Well your appetites haven't changed" Dadan said as she took another drink.

"Guys, do you wanna hear about our awesome adventures!" Luffy said.

"Yes" Makino said.

Ace and Luffy talked on for quite a few hours, all their adventures, battles, experiences, friends, and so much more. Makino wished she could have been with them to see it and take care of the kids but they weren't kidding when they said they can protect everyone close to them. Woop Slap noticed how they would only raid enemy ships not civilian ones, attack only when provoked, and never ignore a crime being committed. Makino knew them better than anyone, it was impossible for them to be bad people. Luffy constantly denied being a hero and started comparing it to meat while Ace just sighed and everyone else laughed. Dadan was so happy for Ace, he finally has a new outlook on life and all it took was a rubber brained moron and a bond of brotherhood. If anyone deserved this to be happy it was a boy who was forced to think his birth and existence was a crime and Dogra and Magra felt the same way as well.

Luffy talked about how they faced Shichibukai, Vice Admirals, Admirals and even a Yonko once but barely managed to survive until Whitebeard stepped in. Luffy kept saying that he will get stronger, strong enough to beat all four Yonko and become the pirate king.

The Admirals were very tough but they could hold their own with them, if somewhat barely. Akainu and Kizaru didn't care for collateral damage so they held nothing back for their Absolute Justice bullcrap but they managed to match Aokiji once in a fight. Everyone was surprised that the three kids who would run around the forest came this far in the big leagues in terms of strength.

Shichibukai was a difficult one to judge, there were weaklings like Moria. They never fought him but they were surprised when he became a Shichibukai since they heard he was weak. They once faced Hawk Eyes Mihawk and that was one of their hardest fights ever, Luffy tried to face Mihawk in a battle of swords and managed to barely hold on while Mihawk was fighting serious, Luffy was actually lucky to walk away from that battle alive. Ace and Sabo tag teamed him but Mihawk was able to match them as well, Mihawk was impressed and told the kids it was too early for them to die and he didn't want to kill them so he walked away. Ace talked about his fight with Jinbe and how it went on for days until it was called as a draw, Luffy wanted Jinbe to join his nakama but he had to decline due to his responsibilities as a Shichibukai and to serve for peace between Fishmen and Humans. Luffy still wanted him to join but they became friends.

They kept talking for a while and suddenly the doors burst opened again. Or rather flew of the handle with a scarily familiar fist shaped hole and as soon as Luffy and Ace saw this they paled.

"LUFFY! ACE!" Garp yelled and dashed up to them and delivered a fist of love onto their poor skulls.

"YEOW!" both Ace and Luffy yelled as they fell off their stools and saw the face of an apoplectic Garp and they started to sweat even more.

"Gramps" Luffy said in fear and Ace said, "Old Geezer" but got another hit for that, "Its grandfather ACE!" he said as he delivered another blow on Ace's head.

"HOW COULD YOU LEAVE WITHOUT GIVING ME EVEN A GOODBYE! I WAS WORRIED SICK EVERY DAY!" Garp yelled furiously and Luffy and Ace were surprised as heck to see tears start to form at his eyes.

"YOU TWO MORONS JUST RAN OFF ONTO A PIRATE SHIP! THANK GOD IT WAS WHITEBEARD AND NOT A NORMAL PIRATE" he yelled back at them, "WHAT DO YOU HAVE TO SAY FOR YOURSELVES?"

Ace and Luffy looked at each other and felt a lot of guilt, he may be a crazy old man, but he was their grandfather. Ace felt really guilty at this, Garp went a long way to try and protect Ace's life and he repaid it like this, running off like that. At the time he seemed like a crazy old man but he was trying his hardest everyday to protect them.

"Gramps, We're sorry" Ace said and Garp was surprised, Ace never called him anything but old geezer or something worse and Ace continued, "At the time I wanted nothing more to be free, Free from those nobles, marines and sail the sea finally but there was something more important, I wanted to become stronger. Strong enough to protect my most priceless treasure, my brothers. When Whitebeard offered us all of the above, I left without thinking and I'm sorry for making you worry"

"Gramps, you were a really mean and crazy old man" Luffy said and Garp got ticked, "But your my gramps. And Gramps was always there for us. I'm sorry I ran off but I wanted to get stronger. Strong enough so Ace, Sabo, Shanks and everyone doesn't have to protect me while I cry. I will become the pirate king and protect all my friends. I also didn't want to get punched by you" he said and Garp had to sigh. Luffy was too blunt to be a speech maker but he couldn't lie to save his life, what he said was the truth.

"I can't believe you two became world famous pirates right when I didn't see it coming. Fire fist Ace bounty: 550,000,000 berries and Straw Hat Luffy bounty: 500,000,000 berries." Garp said.

"So your not mad at us!" Luffy said and got a fist in return.

"I'M STILL MAD!" he yelled.

"So what to we have to do to cool you off, gramps" Ace asked.

"I'm a Marine and you two are pirates" Garp said and the two looked shocked, "so let's have a good fight before you leave" he said with a grin and the two broke out of their shock and grinned back.

"Outside the bar" Makino interrupted forcefully and glared at the trio who started to sweat.

* * *

The trio went to a secluded mountain to fight while the onlookers watched at a very safe distance.

"Ok Ace, Luffy. Show me how far you've come" Garp said.

"Here I come, Gramps" Luffy said, " **Gomu Gomu no Pistol** " he yelled and stretched his arm back and shot it at Garp who took it with a smile.

"Well how about that my grandson can finally throw a straight punch" Garp said with a smile.

"Then your going to love mine" Ace said, " **Hiken** " he yelled and his fist was covered in flames and launched it in a large column of fire. Garp had to dodge that one or get roasted and the flames burned everything in their path.

"Not bad Ace" Garp said, "Now my turn to attack" he said and Sorued to them and nailed Luffy with a punch but Luffy took it with Tekkai mixed with Armament Haki and withstood the blow, he did the same to Ace who managed to take it as well.

"So you learned Rokushiki and Haki. And at such a young age" he said in surprise.

"Our turn Gramps" they called.

Luffy activated **Gear Second** and stretched his arm back and coated it with Haki while Ace was focusing his mera mera no mi power inside his fist. Luffy shot his hand forward and it ignited into flames and Ace shot his fist forwards to at Garp. Luffy yelled, **"Gomu gomu no"** and Ace combined the flame with his own and called out, **"Heat"** and Luffy's fist, covered in flames shot at Garp who countered it with a Haki infused punch and they both yelled, **"Magnum"**. His punch barely managed to push Luffy back and Luffy turned of Gear Second.

"Ok you two, I think I should stop playing around for my own safety" Garp said as he looked at his fist that had a few burns.

Garp rushed forwards with his two fists covered in Armament haki and Luffy activated **Gear Third** and increased the size of both his fists and coated them with Armament haki and shot them at Garp and yelled, " **Gomu gomu no Grizzly Magnum**!" and Garp matched it with his fist. The resulting impact levelled all the trees in the near vicinity and created a crater.

Ace leapt into action and called out " **Kagero** " and shot a stream of fire at Garp who was forced to let go of the clash with Luffy and dodge using **Geppo**. Ace and Luffy saw what their Gramps was doing and used **Geppo** to reach the air as well.

"Well you two have come far" Garp said with a bit of pride.

"If Sabo was here then we would be unstoppable" Luffy yelled with a grin.

"Yeah, our teamwork isn't quite complete without Sabo but we can manage" Ace said with a smile.

Woop Slap who was watching realised that they took his words about taking care of each other to heart.

Garp called out " **Rankyaku** " and shot a large wave of air at Luffy and Ace who also called out " **Rankyaku** " and sent another wave of air each at the incoming one and they combined for even greater effect. The two attacks clashed in mid-air before cancelling each other out.

 _"Very few Marines can actually combine attacks. Those three kids came really far_ " Garp thought.

"Luffy you go in and fight and I'll cover you with fire" Ace said and Luffy dashed forwards and using Geppo, Garp and Luffy in **Gear Second** exchanged blows in mid-air. They both used a full Armament Hardening on their fist and fought fully, neither of them giving it 100% but still serious. Ace kept firing fireballs and had to be careful to not hit Luffy but Ace managed to get a few burns on Garp but to a man like him, that was barely a scratch and Ace and Luffy knew that.

" **Gomu gomu no Eagle Bazooka** " Luffy yelled and finally nailed Garp with a haki enhanced hit to his gut and threw him off balance. Ace saw the chance and took it, " **Shinka: Shiranui** " he yelled and shot out spears of fire but Garp regained his balance and covered himself in a coating of Armament Hardening.

"Nice try, Ace but I wouldn't be where I am I fell down that easily" Garp said and Ace gritted his teeth and Garp removed the coating.

" **Gomu gomu no Hawk Gatling**!" Luffy yelled and stretched his arms back and shot them forward in a rapid flurry of blurred punches which Garp managed to see each one coming and block it with Haki enhanced punches. Garp managed to find an opening and dashed at Luffy and nailed him in the gut with a Haki infused punch. Luffy lost his breath and was sent falling back to the ground and fell into a crater.

"Luffy!" Ace yelled but that distraction was all Garp needed to give Ace the same fate as Luffy. He dashed forwards and was going to hit Ace but then stopped. He looked at his feet and noticed an arm was holding onto it. A really long arm that could only come from, "Luffy" Garp said in surprise that Luffy recovered so quickly. Ace saw the opportunity and yelled " **Hiken** " and hit Garp with a Armament hardened fist of flames and Garp was blown back by that punch and Luffy let go and Garp and Ace got back to the ground.

"Luffy you left an opening in your Gatling and you need to cover it. Ace you get too distracted easily, watch your own back before worrying about someone else's in a fight" Garp said seriously and the two were shocked but nodded. Even now the old geezer was trying to help them in his own painful way and they nodded.

Garp called out **Soru** and vanished, and Ace did the same while Luffy was still in Gear Second and they traded fists at high speed.

To the onlookers they were little more than a blur, only afterimages popping up every now and then but then disappearing again.

"Ace and Luffy are really strong" Dogra said.

"Yeah, they aren't those little kids anymore" Magra also added.

In the midst of the fight, Luffy and Ace traded blows with Armament hardened fists at high speeds continuously and that started to create shockwaves that rippled out and created mini craters wherever there was a clash between fists. They kept this up for 15 minutes, both sides giving as good as they got.

After 15 minutes a panting Luffy and Ace stopped while Garp was starting to feel the age and his stamina was being drained. Both of them had wounds from the blows and Ace and Luffy were covered in the most while Garp had a few but not that many.

"Gramps sure is strong" Luffy said while panting.

"Yeah, Luffy let's go" Ace said and the two got ready to attack.

"Not gonna happen" Garp yelled and ran forwards at the two with Armament hardened fists.

" **Kyokaen** " Ace yelled and created a wall of fire and tried to block the attack. It failed but gave enough time for the two to move away.

" **Gomu gomu no Elephant Gatling** " Luffy yelled as he activated **Gear Third** and increased the size of his fists and brought down a barrage of fists at Garp who stumbled from the fire and took the attack. Luffy launched punches repeatedly over and over again at Garp, when he dispelled his Gear Third Garp still stood. Hurt a bit, but stood like he only got a light punch.

Dadan was shocked speechless at the kids she had to raise and how far they came in a few years, they were matching GARP! One of the most powerful men ever to sail the seas!

"That was a great attack Luffy, but you still have far to go!" Garp said and dashed at Luffy but Ace had a flashback of Akainu and had him covered.

"Not again" he said and yelled " **Enkai: Hibashira**!" and created a pillar of flames that went straight at Garp who was forced to block it with his fists. "I'm never going to sit around idle and let someone hit Luffy again. I can't be everywhere for him but if I am here then you are not going to hit him!" Ace said firmly.

* * *

 _Flashback_

 _Luffy was way in over his head and tried to fight one of the admirals on his own and Ace barely made it on time to help him. They were both being pushed back by Akainu and Akainu had exhausted them completely. Luffy was barely conscious while Ace was trying to still fight._

 _"Die Pirate scum" he yelled and shot a magma fist at Luffy instead of Ace._

 _"LUFFY!" Ace yelled in desperation and was going to jump in front of it because Luffy was unable to move._

 _In a burst of blue flames Marco made it just in time and blocked the attack with his body._

 _"Jeez, we leave you two for two days without Sabo and this happens" he said while his Phoenix powers worked to regenerate from the wound. Akainu looked disappointed and angry while Ace breathed a sigh of relief._

 _The magma from the fist still went through him and a bit landed on Luffy who yelled in pain._

 _"LUFFY!" Ace yelled._

 _"Ace, get Luffy to safety. I'll handle this" Marco said and Ace managed to pick himself up and carried Luffy and ran as fast as he could back to the ship. Marco and Akainu fought but when Whitebeard showed up the Magma monster was forced to retreat._

 _They made it through that day by some miracle. Marco and Thatch were able to save Luffy as the burn was shallow but they had to admit he had the devil's luck to survive a magma fist from Akainu and not have Marco's phoenix regenerative powers._

* * *

Ace promised himself to be a better brother to Luffy and protect him better if he could and it was his fault that this mess happened in the first place.

Luffy got up and stood next to Ace and still ready to fight.

"I remember the first day Luffy came and you flicked a booger at his face. Who would have guessed life could change like this?" Garp said with a grin and Luffy and Ace grinned back.

Luffy got into Gear Second and dashed at Garp. " **Gomu gomu no jet gatling** " Luffy yelled and shot his fists in a rapid blurry motion at Garp who did his best to block the attack.

" **Higan**!" Ace called and his fingers became pistols and he shot out mini fireballs as bullets and hit Garp several times but he could avoid or dodge because Luffy was hitting him with an onslaught of attacks continuously. Once Luffy released the technique from slightly overusing Gear Second Garp saw his chance and took it. He dodged out of the way and got a good distance from Ace and Luffy and got to a pit with large boulders.

 _"Man, I really am getting sick of being old"_ Garp thought, if he was in his prime this wouldn't have even fazed him one bit.

Garp let out a roar and picked up a large boulder and flung it at Ace and Luffy who didn't see that coming. They managed to break it with their own bare fists with no haki, choosing to conserve it and Garp was running out of boulders.

Makino was shocked at how far those two children she made clothes for have come, they fought at a superhuman level and it was breathtaking, but she knew none of them were going all out because they care about each other too much.

Luffy activated Gear Second again and shot his fist back and coated it with armament hardening.

"Ace, one more time!" Luffy said.

"Ok Luffy" Ace said back and his fist was covered in flames.

" **Gomu gomu no** " Luffy said as his fist shot forwards and Ace shot his fist forwards as well with Luffy and yelled, " **Heat** " and the two flames merged again and went straight at Garp and the two yelled " **MAGNUM!** " and Garp was engulfed in flames.

* * *

After the flames died down there was Garp with his Marine uniform burnt off and had a few burns but nothing too serious but was getting tired while Ace and Luffy were pushed far. All of them didn't use their full strength as Dawn Island may not survive that but Garp knew his grandsons had trained hard and seriously.

"Ok, I think that's enough" Garp said and the two stood down.

"Phew, Gramps is strong" Luffy said with a grin.

"Hmph, we'll beat the old geezer next time" Ace said with a smirk.

"CALL ME GRANDPA!" Garp yelled but they all chose that moment to fall asleep temporarily. The onlookers realised the fight was over and went over to the three of them. The battlefield, a lush forest was levelled. No it was a smouldering crater from all the blows and punches that were traded between the three fighters.

"Ace, Luffy are you alright?" Makino said in worry as she rushed over to the two but both of them just grinned.

"Yeah!" Luffy said.

"We've been way worse than this, and it wasn't even when we sailed out with Whitebeard" Ace added.

"I'm fine, thanks for asking" Garp grumbled and everyone laughed.

"Now the villainous pirates have defeated the amazing Marine hero Garp for a few minutes they used it to run away! I hope Ace and Luffy make it out before I wake up. It's also a shame I dropped this random piece of paper that the pirates should not read." Garp said with a grin while everyone sweatdropped at his lame story that he was rehearsing to give to Sengoku. He gave a letter to Luffy who was confused but pocketed it anyway.

"Well then Luffy, let's make like Pirates and RUN!" Ace said laughing and Luffy laughed as well, "Shishishishi!" he said with a grin, "Bye Gramps, we'll see you again!" Luffy said and on that note Garp fell down and was fast asleep, at his age he couldn't handle these brats anymore!

"Ok everyone, we have to go now" Ace said.

"But you just got back!" Makino exclaimed, she thought Garp was joking.

"We know but we need to leave. Luffy has to start his journey, remember" Ace pointed out.

Luffy pulled out a card from his pocket and tore a piece off and gave it to Makino, "Makino, this is a Vivre card. It's a mystery card keyed to me from the Grand Line and it points to the direction I'm in and the size of it shows how healthy I am. I'm sorry for making you worry but hopefully this card will stay big most of the time so you don't have to. Please keep it safe" Luffy said and she took it.

"Ok but you have to take this" Makino said and wrote down a number on a piece of scrap paper, "Try to call home, we all want to hear about your adventures" she said and Luffy grinned with a toothy smile and said yes. Ace did the same as well.

"Bye Dadan, Dogra, Magra and Old Mayor" Luffy said and waved while Dadan burst into tears again and Dogra, Magra and Woop Slap wished them good luck and all the best.

Ace and Luffy left the mountain which had a new plateau from the fight and went back to Ace's boat.

"So ready to set sail" Ace asked.

"Yeah" Luffy said and looked back at the village, "I'm going to become the Pirate King!" he yelled at the village. Ace just laughed and they set said, they also happened to come across a sea king while they were sailing and it was the Lord of the Sea that took Shank's arm and Luffy had great pleasure taking that guy down. And now, the adventure finally begins.

* * *

As they were at sea, Luffy pulled out that letter Garp gave up and Ace was also curious and read it with Luffy.

 _Dear Luffy,_

 _If you are reading this then you are finally strong enough to know the identity of your father. After reading this destroy it immediately and you must try to keep this a secret for as long as possible, but you are terrible at keeping secrets so I don't have high hopes for this._

 _Your father's name is Monkey D. Dragon. You may know him as the "Most Wanted Man in the World" and leader of the Revolutionaries. Luffy, no matter what your existence and birth has always been a blessing to me. The memories we have together are my treasure that I will protect until I die._

 _Luffy, be brave, be strong but above all be a good person and have lots of friends. Also make sure to find a wife quick, I want to have great-grandkids! This time I know they will be Marines because Makino said I should try to convince them by not punching them, even though that is the universal solution to lots of problems! BWAHAHAHAHAHA!_

 _Have a happy life,_

 _Garp_

"G-gramps" Luffy said and felt tears in his eyes. That old man really did care a lot for them, even now when they became pirates. The son of dragon? It seems unbelieveable.

"A-ce. Is my existence a blessing?" Luffy asked.

Ace wasn't great with feelings and that stuff but he felt closer to his little brother than ever before. "It will always be a blessing. I don't care if you are the son of Dragon or even a Tenryuubito! You will always be my brother no matter who's blood are in your veins" Ace said seriously and Luffy gave him a hug.

He thought the same about his existence, that old geezer wanted Luffy to find people who would value his existence but he had to know. He couldn't live life not knowing who his father was. It was as Luffy and Sabo always told him, they didn't care who his father was. They want him to live and want him to exist. He wanted to make sure that Luffy knew that he wanted Luffy to exist as well. He also wanted to scorch Dragon for ditching Luffy to an abusive grandfather but that was Luffy's business on what to do with his problems.

"Thanks" Luffy said and dried his tears and went right back to normal. "Can you burn this letter? I want to keep it but it said I can't" Luffy asked and Ace ignited it and Luffy threw the ashes out to the sea but a grandfather's love doesn't need a letter to convey it.

* * *

The next day...

"How did we get lost!" Ace yelled at Luffy.

"Sorry Ace, I left the compass back at Party's bar and I only have a log pose" Luffy said while rubbing the back of his head.

"Fine, just try to find a ship or something. We can ask for directions to the nearest town or something. We'll buy a compass when we get somewhere" Ace said exasperatedly.

"Ok Ace" Luffy said and the two kept a lookout for any passing-by ships.

"By the way where is all the money?" Ace asked to Luffy, their money bag looked a lot smaller and lighter.

Luffy paled and started to whistle badly and said with tight lips, "I don't know".

Ace got ticked, Luffy was such a bad liar it was actually sad. "We had 200,000,000 berries that I saved up specifically for this moment incase of emergencies and now there is only 7,000,000 left! Did you leave it at Party's bar too?"

"I had to pay back my treasure tab!" Luffy yelled childishly and Ace just groaned, "Luffy, Makino was kidding about the Treasure tab and you had a 193,000 berries tab not 193 million berries you IDIOT!".

"Really?" Luffy said in surprise and Ace grew shark teeth and whacked Luffy on the head, "OF COURSE YOU MORON!"

After sailing aimlessly for about an hour the two finally saw a ship, "Finally, lets ask them for directions!" Luffy said and was going to rush in but was stopped by Ace.

"Moron, that's a pirate ship. Why would they help you?" Ace asked with a raised eyebrow and Luffy got a better look at the ship. It was purely pink and had the head of a duck wearing a necklace and hearts in it's eyes. It also was flying a jolly roger with a skull and heart in it.

"Your right Ace, then I'll sneak on board with my super awesome ninja skills. Nin! Nin!" Luffy said and made a weird hand sign and used **Kamisori** (a combination of Geppo and Soru) to hop over to the ship and climbed onto the rigging. Ace watched Luffy and decided that he needed a nap he was stressed and didn't get much sleep from Luffy's snoring, besides what harm could Luffy do for 10 minutes and he could take care of some weakling East Blue pirates on his own.

Luffy peeked his head up and saw the deck swarming with pirates.

"Waah!" Luffy said and ducked back down before anyone saw him. He looked over to the side where the pirates were taking barrels of goods from a civilian ship they were attacking.

"So if they are taking barrels onto the ship and I need to get onto the ship without being noticed then...darn I'm thinking hard I might get a fever" Luffy said as his head turned red, "I got it, I'll get inside a barrel!" Luffy said and moved sideways until he managed to get onto the civilian ship. If he used his head, he might have used Conqueror's Haki to knock them out and take their compass but it's Luffy, this way is more fun and he promised Whitebeard not to use his full strength callously without thinking in East Blue or he may accidentally kill someone.

* * *

"Ok, I need to get into a barrel" Luffy said to himself and saw two barrels inside the captain's quarters. He went in without anyone noticing and opened a large barrel.

 _"Gold, that's great but don't need it right now"_ Luffy thought as he looked at it. He opened the next large barrel and it was empty.

"Perfect!" Luffy said and got inside. It was quite big and Luffy had a good amount of space. When he was going to close the lid an orange haired girl in a dress walked into the room and closed the door and locked it and was muttering, "Where's the gold?"

"Oh, are you looking for gold?" Luffy asked.

The orange haired girl looked from where that came from and saw a boy about her age with a straw hat, halfway in a barrel.

"What are you doing?" she asked as she saw Luffy.

"Getting in a barrel" Luffy said obviously.

"You do realise the pirates are taking barrels onto their ship" she deadpanned.

"Yeah, I know. I want to sneak on board and grab a compass" Luffy said back to her.

She looked at Luffy as if he was crazy. "You want to steal a compass?" she said slowly to check she didn't misunderstand.

"Yep, the gold is in the barrel next to this one" Luffy said and pointed to it.

"THANK YOU!" she said and opened the barrel. It was filled to the brim with gold coins and her eyes instantly became berries signs and grabbed a fist full.

"Darn it, this is fake. It's just copper coins painted gold" she said sadly as she examined the coins.

"Woah how can you tell?" Luffy asked.

"The coins are much lighter and the paint wears off if you scratch it" she explained, "Wait, why am I still here?" she said.

"Dunno" Luffy shrugged. As they were talking the pirates had almost raided the whole ship, the door handle rattled.

 _"The pirates are here"_ she thought desperately, _"I have to hide! Now!"_ she thought and looked at Luffy in the barrel and had an idea.

"Move over, I need to get in" she said and tried to get into the barrel.

"Ehh, you want to sneak onto their ship and get a compass too?" Luffy asked as he made room.

"I want to hide and and steal money not a compass!" she said exasperatedly. After a bit of squirming they both managed to fit and Luffy closed the lid.

* * *

The pirates at the door were rattling the door handle and called for two more guys. All three of them managed to break down the door and got into the office as soon as Luffy closed the lid. The three were looking around to see if there was anyone hiding under desks or in the closet. One saw an opened barrel filled with gold and pointed to it.

"Woah, look at all that gold!" one said.

"No way, these barrels are loaded" another said.

"2 barrels filled with gold coins, we're set for life!" the last one said stupidly.

"But we need to give it to Alvida" another said dejectedly.

"Not quite" one said and beckoned in the others.

"We hide these barrels and when we next make port we run off with as much gold as we can. We'll be rich!" he said with glee.

"That's great but where do we hide it" another asked.

"um...in the cellar? There are loads of barrels filled with sake so we put it at the back and no one will know what's really in it" the planning guy said again.

"Great idea" another said and the three chanted "we're going to be rich!" and closed the lid on the first barrel and picked up the two barrels.

"Woah this second one is heavy, wonder what's inside" one said and the orange haired girl started to sweat.

"Open it later, we're already late and Alvida might get suspicious" the plan guy said and they hoisted both barrels.

* * *

"Phew" she thought as the plan worked while Luffy was relaxing in the barrel, his plan actually worked. He's so going to rub that in Ace's face! "Um, who are you" Luffy asked the girl. The girl panicked a bit and closed his mouth, "Keep it down, only whisper ok. My name is Nami" she said.

"Ok, I'm Luffy" he whispered back to her after she let go.

"Why do you need a compass that badly?" she whispered. It was on her mind since the start of their conversation.

"Oh, I've been sailing out at sea for a while but I left mine back home at a bar" Luffy said and Nami was surprised.

Suddenly the barrel hitched as the people carrying it crossed the plank and they stumbled, this caused Nami to bump and fall into Luffy's arms. She immediately blushed beet red and went back from him but one thought wet in her head, _"Wow, that's a lot of muscle"_ she thought. Luffy trained his whole life to become stronger, he was always going to be a bit scrawny but he had the body of an athlete. Ace would often poke at that face but then again he couldn't deny Luffy's monster strength.

"Nami, your face is red. Do you have a fever?" he whispered cluelessly and Nami was flustered.

"Nothing, its nothing" she whispered back to him.

After about 15 minutes the barrel was set down and they were in the wine cellar in Alvida's ship.

"Guys, let's open the barrels and see what's inside" one said and Nami started to sweat.

"Crud, they're going to see us in here" she whispered in panic.

"Don't worry I got this" Luffy whispered back with a grin.

One was going to open the barrel but then someone else came into the cellar.

"COBY!" one yelled.

"Ahh, y-you guys" Coby stuttered and saw a barrel.

"You didn't see anything" one said dangerously.

"If you tell Alvida anything we will kill you, understand" another said back.

"Just open the barrel already, it's Coby! He's too much of a wuss to do anything" another sneered and the guy went back to opening the barrel.

Nami felt her heart beat loudly in her chest. The pirates would easily find her and it would be hard to worm out of this one, she looked at Luffy who was calm and cool. Luffy moved and pushed his hands out of the barrel and burst out, surprising the heck out of everyone.

"SURPRISE!" Luffy yelled as he burst out of the barrel and hit the guy opening the barrel right on the jaw and he was knocked out. When Nami trusted this guy, she didn't think he would do something so stupid and was utterly speechless.

Luffy looked at the other two who were gaping at what they saw and Luffy asked, "Who are you guys?"

"WHO THE HECK ARE YOU!" the both chorused.

Luffy looked at the guy on the floor and said, "Hmm, that guy might catch a cold if he falls asleep on the ground like that" he said.

"THAT WAS YOUR FAULT" the both chorused again.

"Man, I'm hungry" Luffy said and ignored the both of them. Nami was struggling to think of a plan to escape from this horrible, horrible situation.

"Why you little" one of them said angrily and they both pulled out swords.

"You should know better to not mess with pirates" the other said and they both yelled, "DIE!" and swung their swords but one was about to slice Nami.

Luffy took one good look at them and drew Shodai Kitetsu and easily countered their blades at the hilt and broke both of their swords. "Oy you nearly hit my friend Nami, you jerks" he said and called out, " **Mini Devil Wave** " he said and his sliced his sword through the air and launched a low power flying blade attack at the two who were cut across the chest and knocked out. To Nami it looked like the guy sliced through the air and sent a red wave at the pirates who were easily beaten.

Coby was whimpering on the floor and looked up and saw Luffy standing tall. The third pirate came to earlier and saw what Luffy did, he picked himself to his feet and asked "Who are you?" in a scared tone.

"I'm Monkey D. Luffy" he said back in a dangerous tone that sent shivers down his spine. He almost wetted himself and grabbed his two partners and ran out the door screaming in fear.

"W-what just happened?" Coby stuttered.

"What the heck is with them?" Luffy said and Nami was still shocked while Coby picked himself up.

"Y-you have to RUN! Those guys will call for reinforcements and you'll be killed!" Coby said to Luffy.

"But I'm hungry" Luffy whined and Nami was jaw dropping, a kid her age sent flying blade attacks and is in the middle of a pirate ship and is worried about food!

"You have to run Luffy. The pirates will kill you!" Nami said, "Get food later! There has to be a whole crew of pirates here"

"It's ok food first!" Luffy said walked through the door with Coby desperately trying to drag him another way. Nami was just speechless but the kid was stronger than her so he was the best ticket out of here and followed him and also tried to drag him with Coby, after she changed quickly into something more pirate like to blend in.

* * *

"FOOD!" Luffy yelled as he found a storeroom and jumped right in and started cheering. Nami was trying to get him to shut up and talk quietly while Coby locked the door and hoped that they would be safe here. Luffy found a box of apples and started to eat with vigour.

Coby decided to introduce himself, "I-I'm Coby, nice to meet you Luffy-san. What you did back there was amazing. How did you do that?"

"WOW these are good!" Luffy said.

"Keep your voice down moron! This is a pirate ship" Nami snapped at Luffy who was still eating.

"Are you one of those pirates nakama Coby?" Luffy asked and Nami turned to him and he looked downcast.

"Not quite, Luffy-san. I was going out fishing one day and left town and found a row-boat. But the boat happened to belong to pirates and I was kidnapped and for the past two years, I have to work like a slave so they don't kill me" Coby said sadly and Nami felt bad for him, she knew what it felt like to be at the mercy of pirates.

"You sure are an idiot" Luffy said and Nami rounded on him and Coby looked like he was going to cry.

"Hey, be more sensitive. He suffered a lot!" Nami snapped at Luffy.

"Why don't you just run away?" Luffy said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world.

"That's impossible, impossible, impossible! What would happen if Alvida-sama found out? My legs keep shaking and my heart feels like it would give in" Coby said fearfully.

"Ehh...so your a coward. How can you know it's impossible if you didn't even try! I didn't know if my plan for hiding in a barrel and getting on this ship would work but it was worth a try, the sea is all about trying to accomplish what you want to do!" Luffy said.

Coby looked speechless and Nami was surprised at how blunt he was but it was the truth, if you didn't have courage to do something it's not worth trying in the first place.

"Your right" he said after a while, "If only I had to courage to be in a barrel and enter a pirate ship. I wish I had that courage to run from here. Excuse me Luffy-san but what are you trying to accomplish on the sea?"

"Hmm, I'm going to become the Pirate King!" Luffy said with a toothy grin and both Nami and Coby were speechless.

"THE PIRATE KING!" both of them yelled.

"Yeah" Luffy said.

"How could you be a heartless monster? You just heard what happened to Coby! You filthy pirate" Nami yelled.

"What are you talking about? No real pirate would do that to Coby, these guys are just criminals. Real Pirates value their nakama and sail free and have loads of adventures at sea" Luffy said.

Nami was speechless and Coby started talking, "You're a pirate" he said.

"Yep" Luffy replied.

"So you have a nakama of pirates" he said.

"Nope need to find one" Luffy said.

Coby was speechless for a few seconds and got up, "The Pirate King is someone who has everything in the world! Claiming all the wealth, fame and power in the world. That means claiming One Piece! The greatest treasure in the world!" he yelled.

"Yeah" Luffy said.

"How can you just say "Yeah"! Every pirate in the world is trying to find that treasure!" Coby yelled.

"Yep, me too!" Luffy said.

"That's impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, impossible, absolutely impossible! You would have to stand on top of the great age of pirates! That's impossible, impossible, impossible!" Coby yelled but was cut off with a bonk on his head from Luffy.

Coby whimpered and got on his knees, "Why did you hit me? No it doesn't matter, I'm used to it" he said. Nami was disgusted at what he did and was going to hit him for it but was surprised at what he said next.

"Coby, a dream isn't about possible or impossible. It's if you want to do it and are willing to put everything on your life for it. A real pirate saved my life once from being eaten by a sea king and lost him arm doing that. He gave me his most prized possession, this Straw Hat and I promised that I would become a bigger pirate than him. I would become the pirate king! If I die fighting for my dream then that's that, I had no regrets in life" Luffy said as he took off his straw hat and looked at it. He put it back on and said, "Man, now that I'm full I need to get that compass. Maybe if I ask nicely they'll give it to me" he said with a grin.

Nami was still shocked when she heard his story. A pirate did that for a kid, she stole from all sorts of scumbag pirates but she never heard of anyone who would do that for a kid. She could tell he wasn't lying in his story so it blew out every perception she had about all pirates.

Coby was shocked and sat on the ground thinking and said, "I never thought of it like that, could I do that if I'm willing to die for it?" he mumbled.

"Do what?" Luffy asked.

"Maybe I can join the Marines" he said.

"The marines?" Luffy asked in mild surprise.

Coby jumped up and said passionately, "YES! It's always been my dream to capture murderous villains! Ever since I was a kid! Can I even do that?"

"How would I know?" Luffy asked amusedly.

"YES I CAN! If I can escape from Alvida-sama...No Alvida would be the first pirate I would capture!" he said passionately.

"That's great" Luffy said.

"Wait what? He just said he's going to be a marine and a pirate is ok with it!" Nami asked.

"Yeah, it's his dream. I like Coby, he's funny and he's a good guy. If it's his dream to be a marine then that's great, he'll still be a funny guy I know in the marines and my friend. Why should I care what his dream is, so long as he tries to go for it?" Luffy said at Nami who was rendered speechless again.

"You'll be enemies!" Nami said.

"Yeah, so. He's my friend and that's that, what does it matter if we have to fight one day, it might be good fun to have a guy like that to challenge and fight. That would be fun!" Luffy said with a grin.

All of a sudden the roof fell apart and a large figure appeared out of the smoke and a voice said venomously, "So your going to join him and catch WHO? Huh, COBY?"

Coby was whimpering in fear in a corner while Nami got behind Luffy who was still calm.

Right behind Luffy, swords were going to stab through the wall according to his observational haki so he grabbed Nami by the waist and moved her so the swords passed on both sides of her. "You should stand there" Luffy said and Nami nodded with a blush and Luffy turned around to see Alvida towering over Coby with a large iron mace.

Alvida looked at Luffy and smirked, "So your not Pirate Hunter Zoro"

"Zoro?" Luffy said in confusion, _"Wonder who that is"_ he thought.

"COBY!" Alvida yelled and Coby jumped in fear, "Who's the most beautiful woman on the sea?" she said dangerously.

"Why-Why of course..." Coby started.

"Who's the big fat old whale, Coby?" Luffy asked and pointed at Alvida and everyone jaw dropped at what Luffy just said. Everyone who heard that paled in fright while Nami tried to hold in her giggles.

Alvida was shaking in rage and spat out, "BRAT!" and dashed at Luffy and swung her mace down on Luffy and Nami. Luffy grabbed Nami again and deftly dodged the attack and crouched with Coby and said, "Coby, Nami. Let's go!" and grabbed him and Nami and called out **"Geppo"** and hopped out through the hole in the ceiling Alvida made by bouncing on the air.

Luffy landed on the deck with Nami wrapping her arms around him and Coby held onto his hand, both screaming while Luffy flew. "HE FLEW" everyone said in surprise.

Nami and Coby let go in surprise and one pirate dashed a Luffy and swung his sword and Luffy just tilted his body back and head butted him. Another pirate tried to attack Luffy from behind but Luffy just turned around and punched him in the face. 4 pirates tried to gang up on him and swung their swords but Luffy just jumped back easily and grinned. Another pirate from above the deck jumped down and tried to slice Luffy who just moved to one side and dodged the attack. Luffy grabbed the pirate's head and yelled "Attacking from behind is a coward's trick" and threw him at the other four pirates.

A group of 30 pirates ganged up on Luffy from behind him and had their swords out. "So all of you are attacking at once, that makes this easier" Luffy said and jumped back and called out " **Gomu gomu no gatling**!" and stretched his arms back and shot them forward in a rapid flurry of punches that hit the pirates and knocked them out.

Alvida managed to crawl out of her storeroom and saw Luffy's attack and Nami and Coby were speechless at what Luffy just did and were jaw dropping.

"L-luffy-kun, what are you?" Nami asked in shock and added "-kun" by accident.

"Oh me?" Luffy said, "I'm a rubber man" and to prove it he stretched his cheek beyond normal limits and both Coby and Nami were speechless.

"Rubber man? That's..." Coby said in shock but the hulking figure of Alvida loomed over him with her iron mace and Coby ran behind him with Nami.

"You've eaten a Devil Fruit, haven't you?" Alvida said.

"Yeah, I ate the Gomu Gomu no mi" Luffy replied cheerfully.

"Oh is that right. I heard rumours about the fabled treasures of the sea but I never believed them to be real" Alvida said, "Are you a bounty hunter?"

"Nope. I'm a pirate" Luffy said.

"All by yourself?" Alvida said in surprise.

"For now. But I need to find a crew first, perhaps 10 people. Besides Mihawk is a solo pirate, never understood why he does that" Luffy said.

"So if you're a pirate, that makes us enemies. And what do you know of someone like Hawk Eyes, you runt" Alvida said with a sneer.

"L-luffy-san we need to run" Coby said nervously while Nami nodded.

"Why?" he asked.

"Didn't you see what that club could do, you'll be killed! She's the most powerful..." he said but Luffy just looked at him emotionlessly as if he was going to see something worth listening to, as if he was expecting something else. _"He believes in me!"_ Coby thought.

"The most what, Coby?" Alvida asked with a sneer.

"The...the...the...the most horrible stinking old whale of them all!" he said angrily and glared at Alvida. Everyone was shocked while Luffy just laughing his head off and Alvida seethed in anger. Nami was shocked, just a few minutes ago this kid was a nervous wreck but Luffy gave him the strength to fight back and have more courage. _"What kind of pirate is he?"_ Nami thought.

"WHAT WAS THAT!" she spat at Coby who didn't stop.

"I'm going to be a marine and capture pirates!" he said furiously at Alvida.

"Do you know what you're saying?!" she yelled at Coby.

"I DO! I'll do what I always wanted to do! I'll become a marine! I'll become a marine! And I'll capture you!" he said bravely at Alvida.

"YOU LITTLE BRAT!" she roared and drew back her iron club and Coby yelled out in fright and Nami urged Luffy, "Luffy do something!" she said.

"Well said" Luffy told Coby and grabbed the hilt of his sword and pulled it out before clicking it back in. Or that's what it looked like, what happened was Luffy got his sword out, slashed the mace quickly and returned it to it's sheath on his back. All that was left was a red aura.

"H-how?" she stuttered.

" **Gomu gomu no** " he said and stretched his arm back a few metres out of the ship and his fist shot forwards and hit Alvida square in the stomach and he yelled, " **Pistol!** ", his fist stretched forwards with Alvida on the receiving end and shot her into the sky to who knows where. Luffy's fist went back to his normal shape and Luffy braced for the recoil and stood tall.

Everyone left on the ship jaw dropped at what they saw and one looked and Luffy and yelled, "W-wait, I know that face. That's Straw Hat Luffy, a big time pirate from the Grand Line. He's a member of the Whitebeard Pirates and wanted for 500,000,000 berries!" and both Nami and Coby were speechless again.

"Ehh, we'll I was never really a member. That old walrus just raised me when I was a kid and I fought with them. I'm from the East Blue originally and I always wanted to be the Pirate King!" Luffy said and everyone was speechless.

"OLD WALRUS! You call the strongest man in the world an OLD WALRUS!" Nami yelled.

"Shishishishi, yeah but he didn't really care" Luffy said, "Besides I was a kid, I didn't know walrus teeth go down, not up! The name just stuck after I found out" Luffy explained.

 _"Luffy's bounty is 25 times bigger than Arlong_!" Nami thought in shock.

"WE'LL DO ANYTHING YOU ASK!" everyone said on their knees and Luffy just laughed.

"Do you have a compass I can use?" Luffy asked and one hurried to get a compass and delivered it to Luffy in 15 seconds flat. "Do you guys need anything?" Luffy asked Nami and Coby who snapped back to reality.

"How about all the gold you have?" Nami said with Berries signs in her eyes and Coby said he didn't need anything. They turned out all the money they had in a sack and handed it to Nami. "Wait how to be leave?" Coby asked.

"Oh don't worry my brother's waiting for me" Luffy said and suddenly a cannon noise was heard. They all turned around to see 3 marine ships heading right for them.

"Marines, we'll let's make like Pirates and RUN!" Luffy said, "Oh wait Coby you wanted to go with them!"

"If they see me they'll kill me. I'm on a PIRATE SHIP!" he yelled.

"Oh ok, then come with me for now" Luffy said and grabbed Coby, Nami and the money and ran over to the side of the ship and Luffy used Geppo to get back to Ace's longboat. Ace was still napping and woke with a start when Luffy landed on the boat.

"Luffy, you're back already?" Ace said as he woke up.

"Ace, Marines are coming let's run" Luffy said with a grin.

"I FELL ASLEEP FOR A FEW MINUTES AND WE HAVE MARINES CHASING US AGAIN!" he yelled with shark teeth.

"Shishishishishi!" Luffy laughed and Ace powered up his long boat which shot forwards in a burst of fire. Nami and Coby were taken by surprise and Nami grabbed onto Luffy on instinct while Coby grabbed onto the side of the ship. Luffy was still laughing while Ace was just watching their course. They made a clean getaway and like pirates, took all the money!

* * *

"Ok, who are they and what the heck happened and when Gramps said he wanted Great-Grandkids, he didn't mean this soon" Ace said and Nami blushed and let go of Luffy immediately.

"Oh yeah, this is Nami and Coby. I snuck onto the pirate ship, ate their food, beat them up when they tried to hurt Nami and Coby and got a compass from them, then the marines showed up and we escaped!" Luffy said.

"Ok remind me again who the strangers are and how they came to be on the ship?" Ace asked.

"Coby was a coward on Alvida's ship and was kidnapped but he stood up for himself and wanted to be a marine so we'll drop him off at a marine outpost. Nami was trying to steal gold and needed to hide so she hid with me and she took all their gold" Luffy said.

Ace said, "Right, I'm ok with the coward but a thief is on the boat, why again?"

"It's no big deal besides we don't have much money left" Luffy said.

"THAT WAS YOUR FAULT" he yelled with shark teeth.

"Wait why do you have no money?" Nami asked Luffy.

"Oh we saved up 200,000,000 berries from raiding pirate and marine ships that attacked us and saved up a lot. When I went back to my home I went to a bar where the bar-maid who owned the place raised me because I was an orphan. She never asked for it but she raised me until I left with Whitebeard. I owed her a tab every time I ate free food from her and it went to 193,000 berries but I paid her 193 million instead by accident. She never asked for the money but I kept track and besides I don't want it back. She probably used the money to help orphans like me so I only have 7 million left" Luffy explained.

Both Nami and Coby were shocked that a pirate did that and for orphans no less. Nami realised Luffy had the exact amount she needed, add 7 million to the 93 million and she had 100 million grand total. But could she steal from a person who just gave away money to a caretaker for orphans and didn't feel bad about it, it didn't feel right to her. He was a pirate only in name and she couldn't steal from him, her conscience had no problem stealing from scumbag pirates but this guy? " _No, I'll earn the final 7 million. I'm not going to steal it from him, if this is some sick test by fate then no, I want to save Cocoyashi but could never look anyone in the eye if I came back as a monster who steals from good people like him. I'd be no better than the pirate scum I steal from,"_ she thought.

"Still you are always too carefree with money you need to be more careful with it" Ace argued. Everyone else didn't notice the internal conflict in Nami's mind.

"Ok I'll try harder Ace" Luffy said at the end and Ace let out a sigh, Luffy was hard to argue with his stubbornness but he would always listen to reason and good advice.

"So where to now Luffy?" Ace asked.

"Hmm...Who is Zoro?" Luffy asked Nami and Coby.

"Z-Zoro? Zoro is a fierce bounty hunter, the best in East Blue. He's a demon and a bloodthirsty one!" Coby said and then paled, "L-luffy-san why do you ask?"

"Shishishishi" Luffy laughed, "I want him to join my nakama!"

"B-but he's a monster swordsman!" Coby said.

"Yeah, I'll decide that. So where would he be?" Luffy said.

"Last I heard I think he was captured by marines in a place called Shells Town" Coby said.

"Ehhh...he got caught by marines? So he's weak?" Luffy said.

"N-No Luffy-san, he is without a doubt the strongest bounty hunter in East Blue!" Coby said back.

"Ok, Ace let's head to Shells Town!" Luffy said.

"Little bro I have no idea where that is" Ace said.

"Um, I do" Nami said, "I'm also a navigator and I need to go to Shells town as well" and Luffy's eyes lit up with stars.

"A NAVIGATOR! ARE YOU GOOD!" Luffy asked.

"I'm the best damn navigator you could find!" she said with pride.

"AWESOME! Join my nakama!" Luffy said.

Nami was shocked that Luffy, a world famous pirate, would ask her of all people to join his crew. But she has to deal with Arlong and help Cocoyashi before even considering the idea of joining a pirate crew. "Umm, I'll think about it. But for now how about a partnership" she asked.

"OK" Luffy said with a toothy grin, "So just tell Ace where we need to go and we can get Zoro to join as well."

"Umm...I have to ask. Ace-san are you Fire Fist Ace?" Coby asked.

"Hm...oh yeah I guess my moniker is Hiken no Ace. Yep that's me Portgas D. Ace, second division commander of the Whitebeard Pirates" Ace said and showed them his back with a Whitebeard tattoo.

Both Nami and Coby were speechless again, really this was getting too common. "Is something wrong?" he asked. They turned on Luffy, "YOU'RE BROTHER IS A COMMANDER OF THE WHITEBEARD PIRATES!" they said in shock. "Shishishishi, yep. It's no big deal" Luffy said.

Coby almost fainted but got ahold of himself, "Luffy-san, Fire Fist Ace is one of the most powerful men on the sea. He has a bounty of 550,000,000 berries! He's your brother!"

"50,000,000 berries more than you, little brother!" Ace said with a smirk.

"SHUT IT ACE! Just wait and see, my bounty is going to break yours so badly, you'll cry" Luffy yelled childishly.

"Having bounties is not a competition, it's bad!" Nami said with shark teeth, trying to get them to understand common sense.

Luffy and Ace just grinned, "With brothers everything is a competition. Which by the way I always win" Ace said and got Luffy in a headlock and gave him a noogie.

Nami and Coby were just really really surprised to see big-shot pirates act, well like this! They expected them to be evil monsters who would ransack East Blue but they were actually nice people.

"Ok, Nami was it? Just tell me the direction and I'll send us there, wind, waves and tide be damned" Ace said with a smirk.

"Huh?" Nami said.

"Oh yeah, I ate a devil fruit as well. I ate the Mera mera no mi so I control fire. The boat is powered by my flames so I can go wherever I want a lot easier" Ace explained.

"You ate a devil fruit as well, like Luffy" Coby asked.

"Yeah but I got a way better one if you ask me" Ace said with a smirk.

"NO ONE ASKED YOU ACE!" Luffy yelled back, "The Gomu gomu no mi is way better anyway!" he said.

"Sure, sure a good older brother lets the younger one believe in fantasy" Ace said with a smirk, "So where to?"

Nami consulted the compass and a map of East Blue she kept on her and pointed a direction. "That was takes you straight to Shells town. We better move the air pressure in dropping so a storm is coming" Nami said.

"Ok, hold on tight" Ace said and his body burst into flames. Nami, Coby and Luffy grabbed the sides of the boat and Ace powered it full blast and they dashed towards Shells Town. And from then on Luffy picked up his first unofficial nakama and a friend for life.

* * *

With a few days of travelling...

"Shells town, here we are!" Ace said and he pulled in and docked the boat at the side of the harbour.

"Oh course we are, I was navigating so we got right where we need to be" Nami said arrogantly.

"All right, we're here at the town where the Marines are!" Luffy yelled.

"Ok Luffy, now that you have someone looking after you to at least try and make sure you don't do something stupid, I need to head back to the grand line top speed" Ace said.

"Ehh, Ace you need to go, now" Luffy said with a pout.

"Yeah, little bro. It's not like we won't see each other again, we'll probably bump into each other on the Grand Line" Ace said and took a sheet of paper and gave it to Luffy.

"Ace, this is your Vivre card!" Luffy said.

"Yeah, you know where to find me if you need it. I already have yours anyway and I'll try to visit if I can" Ace said and got his boat ready to sail.

"Wait how do we leave Shells Island?" Nami asked.

"Just steal it from the people who are going to attack Luffy" Ace said.

"Huh?" Coby said.

"Luffy is a magnet for trouble and a dimwit to boot. He's smart when he needs to be but acts like a kid most of the time, he'll definitely find trouble. Heck almost every island we go to there's never a dull one without anything happening, because of Luffy!" Ace explained, "I can almost guarantee you will be attacked by someone so good luck!" he said and on that note he fired up his ship and set sail back to the Grand Line.

"Umm...Luffy, he was kidding right" Nami asked nervously.

"Huh, oh nope he was serious. I must have been blessed by adventure, we always have one at each island and some jerk to beat up every now and then, it keeps life interesting" Luffy said and both Nami and Coby gulped.

 _"What have I gotten myself into?"_ Nami thought. A few days ago the thought of her joining a pirate would have been ridiculous, ludicrous and unbelievable but now that it happened, she just felt a pull to stick with Luffy. Well, she made a killing off of Alvida and her crew, keep it up and she could have all the money she needed. They went to eat breakfast at a restaurant and Nami changed clothes again to a white shirt with blue stripes and an orange skirt with white and brown circles on the side. She decided to go with Luffy to drop off Coby, she still needed to scout a place before stealing it and Luffy was overkill protection.

* * *

"Oh yeah, Nami why do you need to be here again?" Luffy asked.

"There is supposed to be a map of the Grand Line hidden inside the Marine Base. I wanted to find it and steal it" Nami said.

"The Grand Line? Why do you need that?" he asked back.

"To navigate it!" Nami said, "I mean look at you, you earned 200,000,000 berries there! Think of how much I could steal"

Luffy turned serious and Nami was almost frightened, "Nami the Grand Line isn't a place to fool around in. In East Blue the pirates are utter weaklings and fully meaningless but any pirate from the Grand Line can easily kill you. If I'm right the strongest pirate crew in East Blue would be either Arlong's pirates or Don Kreig's fleet. If either of them tried to take on the Grand Line, they would be devastated by it. And then there is the New World, those guys would be puppies compared to real monsters there. Nami, do not go into the Grand Line. I can't protect you all the time and I don't want my friends to die" he said seriously.

"Luffy, but I..." she started.

"If you want to steal money, it's best to do it here. Try that in the Grand Line and get caught and you're dead. You think a devil fruit is special in East Blue, in the Grand Line everyone and their dog has eaten a devil fruit and some have mastered it, you can steal the map but best to just sell it or something. It's far too dangerous to try" Luffy warned and Nami nodded eventually. She was completely thrown off by a serious Luffy, she knew him for a few days and he was like a child in a man's body, or a extremely powerful wanted pirate's body but Luffy actually acted his age, something that she thought was impossible. She thought about what Luffy said while they were walking.

"OK, Coby tell me more about Zoro" Luffy said his childish attitude came right back. Coby woke up from his shock at Luffy being serious and again tried to talk him out of this.

"He's a demon in human skin! Please let's not go near him" Coby pleaded.

"Well I need to decide if he is a good guy or not. Then after that I'll think about making him my nakama" Luffy said.

"He was arrested because he was a bad guy!" Coby said again. Luffy ignored him and got a pear and ate it and paid for it to the shopkeeper.

"I wonder if Zoro is in the Marine Base" he said and everyone around them jumped back in fear. Luffy, Nami and Coby looked at the sight in surprise.

"It seems Zoro's name might be a taboo here, let's not say it" Coby whispered to both Luffy and Nami.

They continued walking along the street which was returning back to normal. "Ok Coby, we're going to part ways here. You want to a marine right?" Luffy said.

"Y-yeah but I-I'm not ready yet" Coby said, "I heard that a powerful captain called Captain Morgan is in charge of this base" and again everyone jumped back in fright and looked like they were living bombs.

"W-what? I can understand why they're afraid of Zoro but Morgan is a marine!" Coby said in surprise.

Luffy's eyes hardened and he continued to walk along, after they were out of the town Luffy explained, "Coby in life you have to learn that marines aren't always good and pirates aren't always bad. There are both a mixture of good and bad people in each side of the line, granted there are more good people in Marines than Pirates though. I'm starting to get a bad feeling about this Morgan guy".

"L-luffy-san I know that. The pirates that captured me were evil but you and your brother are good pirates. I was never found by marines, they could have tried to find me but there wasn't even a missing poster when I was kidnapped but I want to be a good person and protect others so I will be a good marine. You taught me that already" Coby said with a smile.

Luffy was surprised by that but just ginned, "Not bad Coby, you'll be a great marine" he said with a grin. Nami saw this and mulled over it, the guy was right. Nezumi was a marine but a bribe taking jerk, Arlong was an evil pirate but there are all sorts of stories of good marines and she came across what has to be the only good pirate.

They arrived at the Marine Base on that note.

* * *

"All right, this is it Coby!" Luffy said.

"Luffy-san I want to thank you, you've done a lot for me and I can't say how I'm going to..." Coby started and looked at Luffy who was climbing over the wall trying to find Zoro.

"Luffy-san I wasn't finished" Coby said while Luffy interrupted him, "Oh there's Zoro!" Luffy said and pointed at the courtyard. Both of them went up and got a look.

There was a man tied to a cross-post. A man with light green hair, 3 earrings on his left ear, a white shirt, black pants held with a green haramaki and had a green bandanna covering his hair. His arms and torso was tied to the post tightly.

"Oh, so if we untie the ropes he can escape" Luffy pointed out.

Nami bonked his head, "Ace told me this is the only way to get through to you. That is a TERRIBLE IDEA!" she snapped at Luffy.

"Luffy-san, if you untie him, he will kill you!" Coby yelled in a panic.

"Don't worry, I'm strong" Luffy said and both of them remembered just who they were talking to.

"Hey you three!" Zoro said from his post and looked up, Nami and Coby had shivers running up their spines while Luffy just smiled, "Get lost!"

"Luffy-san you heard him, let's follow his wishes and leave..." Coby said nervously.

Suddenly a ladder was propped up next to the three of them and Luffy, Nami and Coby saw it. A little girl with black hair climed up the ladder and told the other three to be quiet with a "shhh!" She then dropped a rope down and climbed down it and got into the base. Then she ran towards Zoro. Coby was panicking, Nami was worried while Luffy just wanted to watch this.

"Luffy-san, please stop her. She's going to get killed!" Coby pleaded but Luffy ignored him and watched.

"What?" Zoro said to the girl.

"Umm...I made some onigiri for you. Do you want some?" she asked.

"You're going to get killed short stuff. Get lost" he said to the girl.

"But you have to be hungry. I worked really hard to make this and it's my first time" she said and unwrapped a wrapper and showed two rice balls, "Here you go"

"I'M NOT HUNGRY, YOU ANNOYING BRAT. Just go home already!" he snapped at the girl and Nami incensed at how rude he was.

Before she could talk the door opened and 3 new people entered the base. 2 were standard navy soldiers while the other one was a tall, skinny, pompous looking loser with a weird oval shaped bowl cut with blonde hair. "Picking on brats now, Roronoa Zoro?" he sneered.

"Thank god, the marines are here. They'll save the girl" Coby sighed but Luffy frowned and Nami noticed that.

"Hey that looks good" the guy said and took an onigiri from the girl and she pleaded for him to stop but he ate it already. His face suddenly looked like he was eating raw sewage and spat it out. "Why you little idiot! Onigiri needs SALT, this is just disgusting!" he snapped at the girl who was close to tears, "But I thought it would taste better if it was sweet" she said. The guy grabbed the other onigiri and stamped on it with his shoe, while the girl kept yelling, "Stop, stop, please stop!" she pleaded.

Coby was shocked while Luffy was just plain pissed off and Nami was disgusted at what that jerk just did.

"Haven't you forgotten the rule about Zoro? It is clearly said that if anyone tries to help Roronoa Zoro, he or she will be executed for doing that" he said with a sneer and the girl panicked, "You know who my father is right?" he said and the girl panicked. He turned to one of the soldiers and ordered him, "Hey you, throw the brat out of the base" he snapped. When the marine stuttered he grabbed his shirt and spat, "Hey didn't I tell you already, I said throw the girl out of the base! Are you disobeying my orders? I'll tell my daddy" and the marine said "Yes".

He walked up to the girl and whispered, "I'm sorry. Curl into a ball and that will minimise any damage" and picked up the girl and threw her out of the base. Luffy called out, " **Kamisori** " and dashed towards the girl and caught her mid-air and quickly got her to the ground safely.

Both Nami and Coby got down off the wall and went up to the girl, "Are you hurt anywhere" Nami asked as the girl got out of Luffy's arms.

"Y-yea, thank you" she said.

"That was a really brave thing to do. Now go home, I'm going to have a word with them" Luffy said and the girl nodded, "Coby, Nami watch over her for a bit".

Luffy used **Geppo** to climb over the wall but Zoro had his eyes closed and the blond jerk and his goons had left. _"Hmm, may as well meet Zoro"_ Luffy thought and walked over to him.

Zoro opened his eyes and saw Luffy standing in front of him.

"Are you a bad guy?" Luffy asked.

"Tch, you're still here" Zoro said.

"I don't get it. You could easily wipe the floor with that guy but you let stay here and let him humiliate you" Luffy said.

"That's not your problem" Zoro snapped at him, "I will survive this! Its 10 more days and I will have proven them all wrong"

"If that's what you want then fine" Luffy said.

Zoro hesitated for a bit and asked something, "Wait a minute" he said. He looked over to the onigiri that the blond guy stepped all over and gestured to it, "Can you give that to me?" he asked.

Luffy picked it up, "Are you sure, it's full of dirt" he said.

"Shut your trap and feed it to me!" Zoro snapped. Luffy was surprised but shoved the remains of the onigiri in Zoro's open mouth. He chewed vigorously and tried to hold back his initial reaction at the taste. He coughed as he swallowed it and just got it in.

"I told you it was full of dirt" Luffy said.

"It was the best food I've ever eaten. Thank you. Tell the girl that for me" Zoro said evenly. Luffy smiled and nodded and used Geppo to get out of the base. When Zoro saw that he convinced himself that his hunger and the dirt in the food made him hallucinate.

* * *

Luffy wandered around and found Coby and Nami tending to any wounds the girl got inside a restaurant. He walked in and sat down.

"Oh yeah, girl" Luffy said and hey looked up, "Zoro tried your onigiri and he said it was the best food he's ever eaten. He wanted to say thanks".

The girl's face lit up like a bulb, "Really! I worked really hard for it! And my name is Rika!" she said with a smile.

"I don't get it. Isn't Zoro supposed to be a demon or something, if he's not then why he is being held?" Nami asked to Rika.

"Zoro isn't evil!" she said, "He's in jail because of us and it's all Helmeppo's fault!

"Who's Helmeppo?" Coby asked.

"Captain Morgan's son. That blond jerk from earlier" she said.

"Oh that guy. I wanted to beat him up but he left before I could!" Luffy said with a frown.

"What did that Helmeppo guy do?" Nami asked.

"He had a vicious dog as a pet and brought it to our store. I tried to stop it from eating everyone's food with a mop but it tried to eat me but Zoro stopped it. He easily beat Helmeppo without trying. Helmeppo then threatened to kill us and everyone else in the town. He then made a deal with Zoro, if he can survive imprisonment for a month with no food then he will let everyone go. Zoro accepted and it's been 3 weeks since. He got in trouble because of me and I wanted to help him since he must be really hungry" Rika said.

"Nah, he probably wanted to eat it because you worked really hard on it with a lot of feelings. He's a softie on the inside" Luffy said with a grin.

"Luffy-san, I don't know about that" Coby said.

"Really!" Rika said with stars in her eyes.

The doors opened and Helmeppo barged in and sat on a table with his feet on the table, "Hey I'm hungry, get me some food for free now or I tell daddy" he bragged with two marines behind him. A waiter filled his glass with wine and he said out loud, "You know I've gotten tired of Zoro, I think I'll execute him later. Look forward to it everyone!"

Luffy immediately saw red and dashed at Helmeppo and punched him in the face, he was sent flying and bashed onto the wall. Everyone present was shocked at what he just did.

"You gutless piece of trash" Luffy growled dangerously.

"H-how dare y-you! I'll tell my daddy about this!" Helmeppo blustered.

Luffy glared at him and cracked his knuckles, "Man up and quit hiding behind your dad's name. Coward!" he yelled and Helmeppo had shivers going down his spine and bolted with his escorts.

"I've decided" Luffy said, "Zoro will be my nakama!"

"Great now how am I going to steal the map if the place is swarming with marines from what you did!" Nami snapped at him.

"I'm going to charge straight in and free Zoro so everyone will be focused on me. Steal the map while I distract them. Simple" Luffy said, "Coby, wanna come?"

Luffy ran out of the restaurant and headed right for the base.

* * *

Zoro was reminiscing about Kuina and opened his eyes to see Luffy again standing in front of him.

"Tch, so you came back again?" Zoro said with a raised eyebrow.

"I've decided. I'm going to untie your ropes and you'll become part of my pirate nakama!" Luffy said and started to untie some of the ropes.

"No way. I refuse to be a pirate! Pirates are scum, who would want to be one?" Zoro said scathingly.

"Aren't you a vicious evil bounty hunter" Luffy asked.

"I don't care what others think of me, I only wish to live life with no regrets in it" Zoro said, "I will survive this!" he said with a smirk.

"Too bad I already decided you will be one of my nakama" Luffy said back at him.

"You can't decide that!" Zoro snapped at him with shark teeth.

"As for survival that won't happen, that blond egghead was boasting in the restaurant you saved that he would execute you because he got tired of messing with you. A scumbag like that would have never kept his word" Luffy said.

Zoro was shocked but he wouldn't but it past Helmeppo and was deep in thought, _"Shit, is this where it ends?"_ he thought angrily.

"Hey you're a swordsman right, where are your swords?" Luffy asked.

"In the base where the egghead took them" Zoro bit back.

"Ok then I'll get your swords back and then you have to join my nakama!" Luffy said happily. He then ran off in a direction away from the base.

"Moron, the base is the other way!" Zoro snapped at him.

"Oh it is!" Luffy said in surprise, " **Gomu gomu no ROCKET!** " he called out as he stretched his hands and grabbed two poles and shot himself forwards while Zoro was convinced this was a hallucination. Yep, one very weird hallucination.

* * *

Luffy was running towards the base but was surprised by the lack of marines. He noticed Nami sneaking in and gestured to her to enter and grab the map that she wanted to steal. She nodded and left into the base through a window.

"Well this is weird, where is everyone?" Luffy said to himself. He looked up and saw a lot of marines trying to lift a statue, "Is there a gathering or something?" he said.

" **Gomu gomu no Rocket**!" he yelled as he stretched his arm forwards and grabbed a wall on the roof and shot himself forwards but was sent flying into the sky.

"Crap! I went too far!" he yelled and grabbed onto a rope where the marines were pulling the statue. The statue fell down onto the floor of the roof and the upper half of the statue broke off and fell down onto the ground.

"What an ugly statue! The whole thing is horrible and a waste of space. Who uses stone for a statue, it should be bronze!" Luffy said while everyone was gaping at what just happened.

"KILL HIM!" Morgan yelled at Luffy.

"Daddy, he's the one that hit me!" Helmeppo yelled and Luffy noticed him, "Oh its you egghead, tell me where Zoro's swords are" Luffy said and grabbed Helmeppo and ran downstairs.

"CHASE AFTER HIM!" the marines yelled and followed suit.

* * *

"Egghead, where is Zoro's swords?" Luffy asked to Helmeppo, who he was dragging.

"It's in my room, we just passed it" he stuttered out.

"Moron, why didn't you say so!" Luffy yelled and bonked him on the head.

"Helmeppo-sama, there you are!" three marines yelled and held out their rifles.

"Let him go, or we will shoot" one said.

Luffy smirked and picked up Helmeppo and used him as a hostage, "Please shoot" he said while Helmeppo was pissing himself, the soldeirs he used to bully were pointing guns at him. The soldiers hesitated and Luffy used that and threw Helmeppo at them who were knocked over and Luffy raced out.

* * *

Luffy was running down a hallway and he noticed Nami fiddling with a door.

"Nami, what are you doing?" Luffy asked.

Nami almost jumped in fright but turned around and saw Luffy, "Quiet, I'm trying to get into the captain's chambers!" she hissed.

Luffy just walked up to the door and kicked it off its hinges, "There problem solved!" he said with a grin.

Nami was a little surprised he kicked a 3 inch steel door down with a kick but remembered it's Luffy! She got inside and found a safe and was trying to crack it open.

"Darn, this safe is a tricky one" she said.

"Let me try" Luffy said and Nami moved out of the way. Luffy just grabbed the handle with a bored expression and pulled the wall of the safe out easily.

"Done!" Luffy said with a toothy grin.

"I'm so keeping you around, Luffy" Nami said as she thought of all the safes Luffy could just open, literally open.

She looked inside and took out a piece of paper and said in disappointment, "It's not here!" she said.

She pulled out the paper and read what it said, "It's my map now! There's a picture of the Buggy pirates jolly roger on it!".

Luffy wasn't paying attention, he was currently taking a page out of gramps's book and breaking through walls with his fists. He broke about 4 walls and reached Helmeppo's room, it was covered in pink wallpaper and had pictures of Helmeppo all over it and was by far the most girly room Luffy had ever seen, heck it could be a 6 year old girls room! He looked around and found what he was looking for, 3 Katanas? Luffy just ignored it and grabbed them all, one of them was probably Zoro's.

"LUFFY!" Nami yelled as she ran through the holes in the wall to Helmeppo's room, "What are you doing!"

"Oh, I needed to fetch Zoro's swords so he can get out of here. He can't leave without them" Luffy said.

"Why did you break the walls, someone would have heard that. Or you could have burst into a room full of Marines!" she said.

"Oh, all the marines are still looking for me. And breaking and going through walls is cooler than the door, according to what my Gramps always said" Luffy replied.

* * *

Back at Windmill village Garp was going to leave but he felt a tingle going up his spine and knew exactly what it was.

"OH LUFFY I'M SO PROUD OF YOU!" Garp suddenly yelled in Party's bar as he was saying his goodbyes.

"Garp-san, what happened" Makino asked in surprise.

"My brilliant grandson finally understands and has learnt something from me! He understands the coolness of breaking and going through walls!" Garp yelled with tears.

 _"How is that a good thing..."_ Makino thought, _"Oh well at least Garp-san is happy"_ and let Garp continue to cheer.

* * *

Nami wanted to argue but Luffy looked through the window and paled.

"Crap, the guys who are going to kill Zoro are there and so is Coby in the middle between Zoro and the guns!" Luffy said as he looked at the scene, "Nami we need to go, NOW!"

He grabbed Nami again by the waist and jumped out of the window and called out "Kamisori" and dashed towards Zoro and Coby. "LUFFY, WHAT ARE YOU DOING!" she yelled at the top of her lungs.

"FIRE, MEN!" Morgan yelled and several shots were fired by the soldiers. Nami closed her eyes and screamed in fright while Luffy just got on the ground and held her behind him and took all the bullets. The bullets went into Luffy and stretched into his body before being fired back right at the soldiers who all panicked as their bullets were returned to them.

"Sorry, that won't work on me" Luffy said with a grin.

"Who-who are you?" Zoro said in bewilderment.

"Oh, I'm Monkey D. Luffy, the man who will become the Pirate King" Luffy said as he looked at Zoro in the eye.

"The pirate king?" Zoro said back, "Don't you understand what that means!"

"Yep, claim One Piece and be the strongest man on the sea and all. That's my dream!" Luffy said cheerfully.

"Ok, now let's get you free" Luffy said and drew his own sword and closed it immediately and the roped holding Zoro were cut into shreds before he could blink, there wasn't even a scratch on Zoro. Only a red afterglow.

"Here" Luffy said, "The egghead had 3 swords in his room, I couldn't tell which was yours so I took them all" and handed Zoro the katanas.

"They're all mine, I use Santoryuu" Zoro said, _"What was that swordplay, I barely saw it!"_ he thought.

"So now if you aid me in escape, you will be hunted as a wanted criminal and I don't know if I can save you from a firing range a second time. Or you can join my nakama and fight with me. So what do you choose" Luffy asked.

"You are the son of the devil!" Zoro said with a grin, "If it's between life or death, I choose life".

Meanwhile the Marines were trying to understand what they just saw.

"The bullets just bounced off of him"

"How is that possible"

Morgan was silent and then spoke up, "It looks like that Straw Hat brat ate a Devil Fruit. They are mysterious fruits that give unimaginable power, there's one to control fire and even create tsunamis. Their secrets are hidden deep in the Grand Line. He has to have eaten one. However one who eats a devil fruit will be cursed and can never swim again" he said with a growl.

"Yeah, Mudgan or whatever your name is. I ate a devil fruit and yeah I can't swim but so what" Luffy said and Zoro stood with him.

"THOSE WHO OPPOSE ME WILL BE EXECUTED!" Morgan yelled at the top of his lungs, "You useless lot, attack him with swords!"

The marines charged at them with swords raised, "Nami, Coby get behind us. Zoro block their blade attacks" Luffy said calmly. Nami and Coby got to safety while Zoro stepped forwards and got in his Santoryuu stance and crouched and easily blocked the blades.

"Move and you die!" he growled.

"Zoro, I almost forgot. What is your dream?" Luffy asked.

"How is now a good time!" both Nami and Coby yelled.

"I promised to become a pirate and now I've opposed the marines and become a wanted man. However, there is one important thing you need to know. I will always follow my own dream. I will become the world's greatest swordsman! If you try to make me abandon that dream, I will have you kill yourself by my blade!" he said darkly to Luffy who just kept grinning.

"Not bad. As the Pirate King's swordsman, I expected nothing less from you!" Luffy said with a grin.

"Heh, it doesn't matter if I'm known as a devil or saint but I will spread the name of Roronoa Zoro all over the world!" he said with a grin.

"EXECUTE THEM ALL" Morgan yelled again.

"Zoro, duck" Luffy said and Luffy stretched his leg, "Gomu gomu no MUCHI!" and he swept the marines with his leg like a whip. The Marines were all kicked back at Morgan who was standing with his mouth agape. Zoro was stunned again at his captain's abilities.

"Seriously, what are you?" Zoro asked as he got up.

"I ate the Gomu gomu no mi" Luffy said with a grin.

"Gomu gomu no mi?" Zoro said slowly and tried to process that.

"Wait a rubber man! Captain Morgan, I recognise him!" one marine said in fear, "That's Straw Hat Luffy, a big-time pirate from the New World in the Grand Line. He's a member of the Whitebeard pirates and wanted for 500,000,000 berries!"

Everyone present was stunned, the marines were jaw-dropping, Morgan was scared stiff and Zoro was staring at Luffy with eyes the size of dinner plates.

"Man, how many times do I have to say I was never a member of the Whitebeard pirates. That Old Walrus just raised me on his ship and I fought enemies with those guys. I told him when I became 17 I would come back to my home, East Blue and start my adventure to become the Pirate King" Luffy said with a sigh.

"OLD WALRUS!" everyone yelled in shock.

 _"Seriously, that's my captain. That explains his sword skills, he is near the top of the ladder and I doubt he's even using a fraction of his real strength"_ Zoro thought.

The men started to plead with Morgan,

"Morgan-sama, we can't hope to fight a pirate like that"

"He also has Zoro on his side!"

"This is my order. If you don't have the guts to fight then shoot yourselves now. I have no need for cowards" Morgan yelled at them. Most of them cowered in fear and some of them shakily pointed a gun at their heads.

Luffy was outraged and let out a controlled blast of Conqueror's Haki and knocked out the soldiers and they fell unconscious with foaming mouths. Zoro felt a pressure squeeze him and felt it come from his Captain and he saw the soldiers who were knocked out. " _No way, he knocked them out and didn't even move!_ " Zoro thought in shock.

"How the hell are you a captain!" Luffy yelled angrily, "You just ordered your nakama to shoot themselves and you don't even feel sorry for it. As a captain your priority is the lives of your nakama, Mudgan!"

Luffy ran up to him and Morgan was terrified but kept his cool. Suddenly a noise was heard.

"STOP STRAW HAT!" Helmeppo yelled and Luffy turned around to see him holding a gun at Nami and Coby.

"S-stop right now or I shoot you friends" Helmeppo stuttered and his gun was shaking. Luff just stared at this bemusedly and looked at Nami who understood what to do.

"Hey, egghead" Nami said dangerously, "What makes you think I have to play some stupid damsel in distress?" she said and pulled out a staff from under her skirt and knocked the gun out of his hand and swung upwards right at his privates.

"YEAOWWW!" Helmeppo yelled while Luffy just laughed and stretched his fist and shot it right at Helmeppo's face, "Gomu gomu no pistol!" Luffy said as he hit him right on the face.

Morgan was trying to catch Luffy from behind him and swung his Axe at Luffy's head and Zoro rushed forwards with his swords and slashed at Morgan and was stopped right before he even touched his hat.

"Nice Zoro" Luffy said with a grin.

"It was nothing, Captain" Zoro replied back.

Some of the marines started to come to as Luffy only used a small burst and saw something they only saw in their dreams! "Captain Morgan is defeated!" one yelled and slowly the rest of them started to come to after they heard that.

"If anyone still wants to attack then step forwards" Zoro said but the Marines took one look at this and started cheering.

"We're free!"

"Hurray!"

"Banzai!"

Luffy and the others watched in surprise as all the marines started to dance and jump up and down in happiness. One ran into the base and got cuffs for both Morgan and Helmeppo and placed them into custody.

"Hey, do you guys happen to have a Transponder Snail that goes to Marine HQ. I need to use it quickly" Luffy asked and everyone was surprised by the request.

"Luffy-san, what are you doing?" Coby asked.

"Helping you Coby. Just trust me on this" Luffy said.

One ran inside and brought back a transponder snail with a marine logo on it. Morgan hid it in his room to stop them calling HQ to report Morgan's behaviour. "Here you go" a marine said as he gave it to Luffy.

Luffy picked up the receiver and and dialled for Marine HQ.

"This is Marine HQ, who is at the other end?" a voice said.

"I would like you to patch me to Vice-Admiral Garp" Luffy replied, "Private matter"

The voice hesitated a bit but connected it anyway.

"Hmm, who is this" Garp said as his voice came out of the snail.

"HEY GRAMPS!" Luffy yelled at the top of his lungs and everyone jaw dropped.

 _"G-gramps!"_ everyone thought as they heard what Luffy said.

"LUFFY!" Garp yelled, "I was wondering when my grandson would call! I felt my back act up, did you break walls and look cool doing it!" he said merrily.

"Yep, you're right it is cooler to do that" Luffy said and Nami remembered what Luffy said about his grandfather telling him to punch through walls.

"IT IS NOT!" Nami yelled and bonked Luffy, "WE NEARLY GOT CAUGHT BECAUSE OF THAT!"

Silence was heard and Nami thought she did something wrong. "Luffy, is that a girl's voice?" Garp asked.

"Eh, yeah. That's Nami, she's my navigator" Luffy replied back.

After a silence the snail burst into tears, "YES! GREAT JOB LUFFY! I DIDN'T THINK I WOULD GET GREAT-GRANDKIDS SO SOON! YOU HAVE MADE ME EVEN PROUDER!" it yelled and both Luffy and Nami blushed red.

"What the heck is with you Gramps! She's just my navigator!" Luffy yelled back at him, "And if I ever have kids I'm never leaving them with you. I was tossed in tiger pits, sea king nests and bottomless ravines because of your hellish training!"

"I WANTED YOU TO BE A STRONG MARINE!" Garp yelled back at him. Everyone was shocked that he didn't even deny it and Garp actually put Luffy though that, "But Makino told me that it may have been too much for a five year old so if you do have kids I'll start when they're six years old instead" Garp said and flashed a grin and thumbs up.

"THAT'S NOT ANY BETTER!" Luffy yelled back.

"You survived" Garp said, "And it's been proven to work! Either way, why are you calling?"

"Oh yeah, Gramps. I'm at a place called Shells town. The captain in the marine base here was a tyrant and forced all the citizens to fear him and killed anyone who disagreed with him. Civilians, kids, even fellow marines but my new nakama and I beat the crap out of him. I thought you might want to check up on this place. Also I met a guy called Coby who wants to be a Marine. He was kidnapped by pirates and forced to work as a slave but he's a good guy and wants to be a Marine to catch pirates. Since we left and became pirates, I guess were even if I give you Coby to train into a Marine. He's a bit of a coward but he's really brave when he needs to be" Luffy said and everyone around him were shocked. The marines were happy, Garp was coming to help their town. Coby was almost in tears at what Luffy said about him and how he is helping him follow his dream.

"OK Luffy, I was on my way back to HQ so I can make a side stop. I'll be there in a few weeks since my ship is a bit slow and sort out this place. Also that Captain of the Marine Base in Shells town is hereby stripped of his title and rank in the Marines. Tell that Coby kid to train at the base, he's going to need it if he wants to survive my training! BWAHAHAHAHA!" Garp said.

"Bring it on!" Coby yelled and surprised everyone, even himself.

"Was that the Coby guy? You're right he does sound like he would make a good marine. Ok, I'll take him. BUT I'M STILL MAD AT YOU FOR RUNNING OFF AND BECOMING A PIRATE!" Garp yelled.

"Shishishishi! Thanks Gramps, bye!" Luffy said and put the receiver down.

Zoro and Nami were still staring at him and Luffy was wondering what happened. "Hmm. What is it?" Luffy asked.

"YOU'RE GRANDFATHER IS THE HERO OF THE MARINES GARP!" Zoro and Nami yelled. Coby was overjoyed and crying while the Marines were still celebrating.

"Yeah, let's talk about that later. First I'm hungry!" Luffy said and his stomach growled.

* * *

They went back to the restaurant Rika was in and they celebrated with a feast. They gave them all they could eat and Zoro ate to compensate for 3 weeks of no meals. Luffy, of course, ate a lot of food and Coby and Nami were the only ones who ate a normal meal.

"Ahh, that hit the spot!" Zoro said as he finished his meal and looked at Luffy, "How did you eat so much and stay so scrawny?" he asked.

"Hm? Oh because the food is really good. Thanks Rika and Rika's mom" Luffy said and grinned at them.

"No need to thank us, you saved our town!" she replied.

"Yeah, you're our hero!" Rika said.

Luffy put down the fork and told them, "Oy, I'm no hero" and took them by surprise.

"But you saved us all" Rika said.

"Yeah but I only did it because I decided Zoro was going to be my nakama and also because Rika and Rika's mom didn't like Mudgan who hurt them. Listen if a hero gets a piece of meat, he has to share it with everyone. I want to eat all the meat!" Luffy explained.

Rika and Rika's mom heard his explanation and after a few seconds laughed, Nami just sighed and asked, "That's how you define a hero?" while Zoro nodded, "Makes sense, I don't want to share sake. I want to drink it all!" and agreed with Luffy while Nami felt a headache come on. The only good pirates she finds are total idiots!

"Then let's get extra sake and meat for you two then" Rika said and went with her mom back to the kitchen.

"Ok Luffy, if your grandfather is a marine hero. Why did you go to the Whitebeard pirates and run away?" Nami asked.

"Well at the time Whitebeard came to my island, I thought I lost someone precious to me. My brother but he was saved by Whitebeard. We wanted to get stronger so that we can seek freedom and be real pirates and Whitebeard asked if we want to join him. I made it clear that I would kick the old walrus's butt and be the Pirate King and he mostly laughed and agreed to it" Luffy said, "Also Gramps mostly beat us up because we wanted to be pirates and his training would be insane. I'll be honest, I feel sorry for you Coby but Gramps will toughen you up for sure!"

Coby started to sweat a bit and gulped. "Ok, that's fine" Zoro said, "Your personal life is your own and none of my business" he said and took a drink.

"So where to now, Luffy?" Nami asked.

"Oh didn't you steal a map of the grand line? Let's go there!" Luffy said.

"With what boat? Your brother left with it" Nami shot back at him and Luffy remembered.

"Brother? Who's that?" Zoro asked.

"Hm? Oh, my brother is Ace" Luffy said.

"Ace?" Zoro said.

"Portgas D. Ace, second division commander of the Whitebeard pirates" Nami said and Zoro looked shocked and spat out the sake.

"SERIOUSLY!" Zoro said with shark teeth.

"Yep, he dropped me off here on his boat and left. We can try asking for a boat" Luffy said.

"Ok, so who else is on our crew. Since you want to go to the Grand Line you probably have a good number of crew members" Zoro said.

"Nope, you're the first member. Nami is just a partner until she decides to join" Luffy said and Zoro sweat dropped.

"So no boat and only 3 crew members and you want to go to the Grand Line?" Zoro asked slowly.

"Yep, we'll find a ship somewhere along the way and more nakama. And a cool pirate flag" Luffy said and daydreamed.

"I don't think Luffy has the ability to have any form of foresight" Nami deadpanned and Zoro felt a headache coming on, "And he's my captain, a big-time pirate from the New World?"

Suddenly the doors burst open and marines entered the bar.

"Excuse me but we need to clarify something, are you pirates?" a Marine asked.

"Yep, Coby isn't though" Luffy said.

"I see, by marine law. I am ordered to evict you from our town, since you have saved us all we will not report any of this" the marine said.

The civilians behind them yelled out cries of protest and anger.

"That's great anyway but I need a ship for 3 people if I want to go anywhere" Luffy said.

"A boat shall be provided" the officer stated.

Luffy nodded, "Ok, Nami and Zoro let's go!" and the two got up. "Coby good luck!" Luffy said and Coby was struggling not to cry.

* * *

The trio headed to the docks in the evening when all the people dispersed.

"The map was stolen by Buggy, a big pirate in East Blue" Nami said, "I asked some of the marines to give us his location and it's a place called Orange Town. I can navigate us there"

"Ok so we have a direction" Luffy said, "Let's set sail!"

As they got on the boat, Rika, her mother and Coby came by to wish them goodbye.

"Luffy-san, I want to say thank you. Thank you for all you have done for me!" Coby said almost in tears and gave a salute.

"Heh, a marine giving a pirate a salute? Now I've seen everything" Zoro said.

"Shishishishi! Yeah god luck Coby! Be a good marine!" Luffy said and the marine soldiers marched up behind Coby and went into a salute as they left.

"What a weird day? Who's ever heard of something like a marine saluting a pirate" Nami said.

"Shishishishi! Let's go! Bye everyone!" Luffy waved goodbye as they set sail into the setting sun.

* * *

A few days later...

"Man, I'm tired. Oy let's get to this Orange town place faster" Zoro said to Nami.

"This is the fastest course you lazy swordsman!" she yelled back at him.

"Oh yeah, Nami I forgot to ask. Why do you always steal money, it seems like a dull dream. Are you trying to reach an amount or just as much as you can" Luffy asked.

"I need 100,000,000 berries. I c-can't tell you why" she said back.

"Ok" Luffy said.

"Do you even have a dream?" Zoro asked again.

"As a matter of fact, my dream is to draw a map of the world!" Nami snapped at him.

"Ehh...That sounds really cool, Nami!" Luffy said.

"I've actually been meaning to ask Luffy. How did you fly, I don't know if I was hallucinating or not but I know I saw you fly" Zoro asked.

"Oh that is a form of Rokushiki, I'm going to be teaching you guys that and much more if you want to survive the Grand Line" Luffy said.

"Rokushiki?" they both asked.

"Yeah, it's only used by marines and government agents. Gramps sent us a manual on it after we ran away, that crazy old man wanted to keep us safe and get stronger even though we were pirates" Luffy said, "There are 6 forms in Rokushiki. Here's the first. **Soru** " he called out and became a blur and vanished. Both Zoro and Nami were staring bug eyes at that and Luffy got behind them.

"YO!" he yelled and both of them jumped and he laughed.

"Soru is a high speed movement technique. I can use in high speed battles" Luffy explained, "Next is a familiar one, **Geppo** " and jumped off the boat and hopped on the air, "With geppo I'm jumping hard enough so that the air becomes a platform for me to jump on" Luffy said and was hopping on air.

"W-wait normal humans can learn that?" Nami asked.

"Yep, it takes training but yeah" Luffy said, "This is a handy technique since I can't swim so I use Geppo to stay above the water. My Kamisori technique is a combo of Geppo and Soru so I can dash in mid-air. Pretty useful right" and Luffy got down.

"Ok now I need a volunteer" Luffy said, "Zoro I want you to punch me in the gut" Luffy said and Zoro raised his eyebrow but nodded. He cocked his fist back and hit Luffy who called out " **Tekkai**!"

Zoro clutched his hand for a few seconds but listened to Luffy who explained, "Tekkai hardens your muscles so blows don't hurt you but the other person. OK Nami I need your help and don't worry I won't hurt you. I want you to swing your staff at me" Luffy said and Nami nodded. She swung her staff at Luffy who called out " **Kami-e** " and his body limped and he just moved to the side of the attack like paper, Nami tried a few more times but it didn't work. After she stopped Luffy explained, "That was Kami-e. I make my body limp and just float like paper and avoid attacks" Luffy said and Nami nodded, a move like that would be really handy for her.

"Now the attacking ones, I don't want to use this here so I'm going to send the attacks out to sea" Luffy said. He drew his sword and Zoro paid immediate attention and called out **"Rankyaku"** and swung it and sent a red wave out to sea.

"Rankyaku is swinging something at really high speeds and create a slicing wind from it" Luffy said, "Usually this is used for kicks but I modified to to work for flying blade attacks. I'll teach you that Zoro but on this ship there's not much room to train that so we'll do it once we get a real ship"

"What's the last one?" Zoro asked, Luffy pulled out a barrel and called out " **Shigan** " and poked it, but a bullet noise was heard and a hole like a bullt was in the barrel. "I don't really like this, shigan is poking an enemy at a vital point You never need bullets with this but I don't like it. And that's the Rokushiki, I'm going to be training you all in it so get ready once we get a ship. I suppose now we can train in Tekkai for Zoro and maybe Soru or Kami-e for Nami, which do you want?" he explained.

Zoro instantly agreed, any training in these skills is good. Nami thought about it and asked for Kami-e since it would be best to dodge. "Ok then I'm going to be hitting Zoro in the gut and I want you to contract your muscles and Nami I'm going to be swinging a staff at you and try to make your body limp" Luffy said and both of them stared.

"Um, so you have any better instructions?" Nami asked.

"Nope, back at the Old Walrus's ship it was read it, learn it by doing and it takes a while to learn so don't get frustrated is you get nothing on the first day but I think you both can learn it quickly in a few weeks or so" Luffy said.

"Wait Luffy, what about that thing you did where you knocked out all the Marines?" Zoro asked.

"Oh Haki? That comes later, definitely need a ship to teach that and it's even harder than Rokushiki so don't go nuts for it" Luffy said and Zoro nodded.

"All right, let's train!" Luffy said cheerfully.

The next few days were filled with much curses, pain and violence but this was only the start of a long journey to get stronger and sail the Grand Line.

 _ **AND FINISHED! I MADE THE SECOND CHAPTER FOR MY FIC AND GOT OVER 20K WORDS, NEW RECORD! I DON'T KNOW IF I WANT TO CONTINUE THIS. MY FOCUS WAS ALWAYS ON MY FAVOURITE POKEMON FIC BUT JUST TELL ME WHAT YOU THINK ABOUT THIS AND DECIDE! IF YOU CAN TELL ME WHERE TO IMPROVE, PLEASE DO. I'M ONLY A MONTH OLD WRITER AND I AM ALWAYS LOOKING FOR ADVICE! LUFFY X NAMI STARTING AND AS MORE COME I WILL TRY TO BRING IT ALL TOGETHER, I MADE NAMI A BIT NICER IF ANYONE NOTICED AND THAT IS INTENTIONAL. ZORO IS A USUAL GROUCH BUT COOL ANYWAY. IF YOU SEE ANY MISTAKES PLEASE TELL ME ABOUT IT SO I CAN CORRECT IT. THANK YOU FOR READING, PLEASE REVIEW, PM OR FAVOURITE THE STORY! BYE!**_


	3. Abandoned, sorry

I honestly hate myself for doing this, but I don't really have another option.

Life keeps getting busier and busier since Medical School is really demanding, leaving almost no time for me to write, and this is just first year! I thought I could manage my time to get time to write, but on top of studies, coursework and more, I just can't.

So it's with a heavy heart that I have to put up abandoned signs on these stories. Reading back over them reminds me of how I started out, just trying to learn English better for uni, and it's come a long way. But now like most things in life, we have to put them behind us.

Abandoned Stories are:

The Dark Rubber Ninja - no real plans  
Small Changes - no real plans  
Sword Art Online - Black Storm - small plan  
Path to Pirate King - no real plan + a little prewritten part  
Chronicles of Gohan DxD - detailed plan + some prewritten parts  
Fairy of the Zoldycks - detailed plan

If you want to adopt it, then just PM me and I'll send over the docs for these stories so you can put it up. I also wrote out plans for each story and can also send them, but I guess if you want to do your own thing then it's all yours. I'll still keep the originals up here, if anyone wants to read them but know that I'm probably not going to update unless a miracle happens, and I doubt it will.

I'll still try to update and work on:

Beyond the Limits of Darkness and Light  
Harry Uchiha Peverell

And maybe something new as well, because those stories I remembered putting a lot of work into, and I still hope to be able to update it at some point but I'm afraid it's goodbye for the other stories.

Sorry to anyone who was a fan of these stories, and I hope that any of you reading these stories and are a fan of them will adopt them.


End file.
